Psychopathia Sexualis

Excerpt: "Sexuality is the most powerful factor in individual and social existence; the strongest incentive to the exertion of strength and acquisition of property, to the foundation of a home, and to the awakening of altruistic feelings, first for a person of the opposite sex, then for the offspring, and, in a wider sense, for all humanity. Thus all ethics and, perhaps, a good part of æsthetics and religion depend upon the existence of sexual feeling. Though the sexual life leads to the highest virtues, even to the sacrifice of the ego, yet in its sensual force lies also the danger that it may degenerate into powerful passions and develop the grossest vices. Love as an unbridled passion is like a fire that burns and consumes everything; like an abyss that swallows all,—honor, fortune, well-being."