Lust is to the other passions what the nervous fluid is to life;

Hear the dark yet penetrating words of the Marquis de Sade: “Lust is to the other passions what the nervous fluid is to life; it supports them all, lends strength to them all. Ambition, cruelty, avarice, revenge, are all founded on lust.” These words, born from a mind both infamous and unflinching, carry with them a terrible truth about the inner fires of humanity. For de Sade, lust is not merely desire of the flesh; it is the primal hunger that animates the soul, the restless energy that fuels every passion and every pursuit, whether noble or wicked.

When he likens lust to the “nervous fluid of life,” he reveals it as the vital force that drives action. Just as the nerves carry electricity to the body, giving it motion and vitality, so does lust—desire, hunger, craving—infuse ambition with urgency, cruelty with ferocity, avarice with endless appetite, and revenge with burning persistence. Without that energy, passions wither. With it, they become storms. Thus, de Sade uncovers a frightening law: that beneath our loftiest goals and darkest sins alike, there flows a river of unchecked desire.

History has shown how this truth manifests in both triumph and tragedy. Consider Alexander the Great. His ambition was limitless, his conquests stretching from Greece to India. Yet at the root of his drive was a lust for glory, for immortality in the memory of mankind. It was not reason alone that carried him through deserts and mountains, but the same primal hunger de Sade describes. Lust for greatness clothed itself in ambition and led him to reshape the world.

But lust can also fester into cruelty. The Roman emperors who amused themselves with gladiatorial bloodshed did so not out of necessity but out of the intoxication of power and indulgence. Their lust for domination gave birth to cruelty unparalleled, feeding their vanity and numbing their conscience. So too, tyrants in every age have cloaked lust in the garments of justice, only to reveal its true nature in rivers of blood.

Even avarice, the endless hunger for wealth, finds its roots in lust. Men have crossed oceans, toppled kingdoms, and enslaved nations because their lust for gold burned hotter than any flame. The Spanish conquest of the New World is one such tale, where lust for riches fed avarice and birthed destruction, reshaping continents and leaving scars that endure to this day. Without lust, wealth would serve utility; with lust, it becomes an idol demanding sacrifice.

And what of revenge? Who can deny that beneath its seeming nobility lies lust—the lust for retribution, for satisfaction, for seeing the other laid low? From the blood feuds of ancient clans to the political assassinations of our modern age, revenge has always been kindled by desire. It masquerades as justice but feeds upon the same hunger that drives cruelty and ambition. Without lust, vengeance would fade into forgiveness; with it, the flame burns without end.

Understand this, O seeker: de Sade’s words are not a call to worship lust, but a warning to recognize it. He unmasks the passions, stripping away their disguises, and reveals that they are not pure forces but often branches from the same root. To master oneself, one must master this current, for the man who is slave to his lust—whether for pleasure, wealth, power, or revenge—will find himself consumed by it.

Let this be your lesson: examine your passions. Ask not only what you desire, but why you desire it. Is your ambition guided by vision, or is it driven by lust for recognition? Is your pursuit of wealth for sustenance, or lust for excess? In mastering this inner fire, you do not extinguish life—you purify it, turning hunger into discipline, desire into purpose, passion into creation. For lust ungoverned destroys, but lust transformed into vision becomes the very force by which civilizations rise.

Thus is the teaching of the Marquis de Sade: lust is the hidden strength of all passions. Know it, master it, and you will wield power with wisdom. Ignore it, and it will wield you, dragging you into the abyss where ambition, cruelty, avarice, and revenge devour the soul.