Whatever you think of de Sade, he was a complex figure and we should not look for easy answers with him. He was, strangely perhaps, against the death penalty, and he was never put in prison for murders or anything like that.
I think it's really important to use your hands and get close to materials. To be up close to real things like rain and mud; to have contact with nature.
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.