Through his passion nature has given man into woman's hands, and the woman who does not know how to make him her subject, her slave, her toy, and how to betray him with a smile in the end is not wise.
 Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Venus in Furs (1870). copy citation

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Author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Source Venus in Furs
Topic passion women
Date 1870
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Fernanada Savage
Weblink https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Venus_in_Furs

Context

“"Don't you know me yet? Yes, I am cruel --since you take so much delight in that word-and am I not entitled to be so? Man is the one who desires, woman the one who is desired. This is woman's entire but decisive advantage. Through his passion nature has given man into woman's hands, and the woman who does not know how to make him her subject, her slave, her toy, and how to betray him with a smile in the end is not wise." "Exactly your principles," I interrupted angrily. "They are based on the experience of thousands of years," she replied ironically, while her white fingers played over the dark fur. "The more devoted a woman shows herself, the sooner the man sobers down and becomes domineering.” source