"Moral isolation signifies the removal of constraints and, moreover, it manifests the deep meaning of expenditure. Anyone who believes in the worth of others, is necessarily limited; he is restricted by this respect for others, which prevents him from knowing the meaning of the only aspiration that is not subordinated within him to the desire to increase his material or moral resources. There is nothing more common than a momentary incursion into the world of sexual truths, followed, all the rest of the time, by a fundamental denial of those truths. The fact is that solidarity keeps man from occupying the place that is indicated by the word 'sovereignty': human beings' respect for one another draws them into a cycle of servitude where subordinate moments are all that remains, and where in the end we betray that respect, since we deprive man in general of his sovereign moments (of his most valuable asset).
Georges Bataille The Accursed Share Vol 2 The History of Eroticism (1988 [1967]) p.178-179
