Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that species alone, but it is above all the secret aspect, impenetrable and hidden. Crime hides, and by far the most terrifying things are those which elude us.

Nothing is more necessary or stronger in us than rebellion.

Pleasure only starts once the worm has got into the fruit; to become delightful, happiness must be tainted with poison.

To others, the universe seems decent because decent people have welded eyes. That is why they fear lewdness. They are never frightened by the crowing of a rooster or when strolling under a starry heaven. In general, people savor the "pleasures of the flesh" only on the condition that they may be insipid.

Eroticism, it may be said, is assenting to life up to the point of death

A judgment about life has no meaning except the truth of the one who speaks last, and the mind is at ease only at the moment when everyone is shouting at once and no one can hear a thing.

The warrior's nobility is like a prostitute's smile, the truth of which is self-interest.