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

A truly submissive woman is to be treasured, cherished and protected for it is only she who can give a man the gift of dominance.

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

Lovers and mystics are familiar with this sense of grandeur, this taste of joy - in abandoning oneself to the will of others.

To love is to live on the precipice.

Woman ... is the divine object, violated, endlessly sacrificed yet always reborn, whose only joy, achieved through a subtle interplay of images, lies in contemplation of herself.

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

Story of O is a fairy tale for another world, a world where some part of me lived for a long time, a world that no longer exists except between the covers of a book.

I wrote 'The story of O' alone, for Dominique Aury, to interest him, to please him, to occupy him. I wasn't young, nor particularly pretty. I needed something which might interest a man like him.

You have to get past the pleasure stage, until you reach the stage of tears.

Debauchery conceived of as a kind of ascetic experience is not new, either for men or for women, but until Story of O no woman to my knowledge had said it.

In philosophy it is always good to put a question instead of an answer to a question. For an answer to the philosophical question may easily be unfair

Do not disagree with each other, enrich the soldiers, despise everyone else.

This just means so much to me!I'd like to thank all the little people I crushed on my way to the top

On a selfish basis, I really enjoy sports and activity.

Fame doesn't end loneliness.

And thus we all are nighing The truth we fear to know: Death will end our crying For friends that come and go.

Walking is the exact balance between spirit and humility.

I receive letters from workers, from secretaries. . . . They are the most interesting ones.

I think I always try to be accommodating and open and available and proving for my director. I love to give as many takes as they want. I love to give them as many choices as they want.

Motivation is when you get hold of an idea and carry it through to its conclusion, inspiration is the reverse. An idea gets hold of you and carries you where you are intended to go.