courtesans

• “This time the story is set in the tight-knit world of courtesans aka classy prostitutes of the Belle Époque, the French age of innocence which preceded the carnage of the First World War.”

  Stephen Frears on CHERI’s meanings and influences | Obsessed With Film

• “Among them literature and sensuality appeared in revolting combination, for their courtesans were their only females who attended to the culture of the intellect.”

  The Ancient Church Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution

• “While the Duke of Valentinois was making one of his excursions in the neighbourhood of the town with his retinue of flattering nobles and titled courtesans, who were always about him, he noticed a cortege an the Rimini road so numerous that it must surely indicate the approach of someone of importance.”

  The Borgias Celebrated Crimes

• “Before I saw titled courtesans I had read Boccaccio and Bandello; above all, I had read Shakespeare.”

  The Confession of a Child of the Century — Complete

• “The first time I saw titled courtesans I read Boccaccio and Andallo; tasting of everything, I read Shakespeare.”

  The Confession of a Child of the Century

• “The gains of the wealthiest and best kind of courtesans are to be spent as follows:”

  The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana

• “It is perhaps best to begin with birth: I would therefore warn those who desire to be fathers of notable sons, not to form connections with any kind of women, such as courtesans or mistresses: for those who either on the father or mother's side are ill-born have the disgrace of their origin all their life long irretrievably present with them, and offer a ready handle to abuse and vituperation.”

  Plutarch's Morals

• “(These so-called courtesans have little in common with comfortably maintained mistresses like Madame du Pompadour or Verdi's Violetta Valéry.”

  The Wall Street Journal: Worldly Pleasures on Paper:

• “It wasn't 100 years ago, when (according to Colette, at least) a subculture of "courtesans" achieved prototypical notoriety/celebrity.”

  Redskins Insider Podcast -- The Washington Post

• “courtesans" sip Pepsi and Jack Daniel's as Mr. Wang peeks out from behind a curtain.”

  NYT > Home Page

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