"Even his admirers will readily admit that his work is, for the most part, unreadable; philosophically, it escapes banality only to founder in incoherence. " Must We Burn Sade? p. 4

"The Sadean conscience reproduces in its own operations the perpetual motion of nature which creates but which, in creating, sets up obstacles for herself. The only way she recovers her liberty, even momentarily, is by destroying her own works." Nature as Destructive Principle, p. 86

"For we must confess, in the stories that you are about to read, the audacious effort we have been so bold to make does not always adhere strictly to the rules of the art. But we trust that extreme verisimilitude of the characters will perhaps compensate for it." Reflections on the Novel, p. 113

"A detestable book by a man suspected of having written one even more horrible." Villeterque's review of Les Crimes de l'Amour, p...