O felt that her mouth was beautiful, since her lover condescended to thrust himself into it . . .

I think that submissiveness can [be] and is a formidable weapon, which women will use as long as it isn't taken from them.

Is O used by René and Sir Stephen, or does she in fact use them, and...all those irons and chains and obligatory debauchery, to fulfill her own dream-that is, her own destruction and death? And, in some surreptitious way, isn't she in charge of them? Doesn't she bend them to her will?

To love is to live on the precipice.

Keep me rather in this cage, and feed me sparingly, if you dare. Anything that brings me closer to illness and the edge of death makes me more faithful. It is only when you make me suffer that I feel safe and secure. You should never have agreed to be a god for me if you were afraid to assume the duties of a god, and we know that they are not as tender as all that. You have already seen me cry. Now you must learn to relish my tears.

O felt that her mouth was beautiful, since her lover condescended to thrust himself into it . . .

By my makeup and temperament I wasn't really prey to physical desires. Everything happened in my head.