Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne

"At twenty, man is less a lover of woman than of women: he is more in love with the sex than with the individual, however charming she may be."

"The life of a woman is a long dissimulation. Candor, beauty, freshness, virginity, modesty — a woman has each of these but once. When lost, she must simulate them the rest of her life."

"The ear is the last resort of chastity: after it is expelled from the heart, it takes refuge there."

"A secret passion defends the heart of a woman better than her moral sense."

"The heart of youth is reached through the senses; the senses of age are reached through the heart."

"Restif de la Bretonne undoubtedly holds a remarkable place in French literature. He was inordinately vain, of extremely relaxed morals, and perhaps not entirely sane. His books were written with haste, and their licence of subject and language renders them quite unfit for general perusal."