I don't write a book so that it will be the final word; I write a book so that other books are possible, not necessarily written by me.

Freedom of conscience entails more dangers than authority and despotism.

Nature, keeping only useless secrets, had placed within reach and in sight of human beings the things it was necessary for them to know.

The practice of S/M is the creation of pleasure.... And that's why S/M is really a subculture. It's a process of invention. S/M isthe use of a strategic relationship as a source of pleasure.

I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am.

Do not ask who I am and do not ask me to remain the same: leave it to our bureaucrats and our police to see that our papers are in order. At least spare us their morality when we write.

It is one of my targets to show people that a lot of things that are part of their landscape - that people are universal - are the result of some very precise historical changes. All my analyses are against the idea of universal necessities in human existence. They show the arbitrariness of institutions and show which space of freedom we can still enjoy and how many changes can still be made.