Quencell Howard

“If you begin to deviate from the straight and narrow path—if you begin to act improperly—people will react to your errors before they become too great, and cajole, laugh, tap, and criticize you back into place. They will raise an eyebrow, or smile (or not), or pay attention (or not). If other people can tolerate having you around, in other words, they will constantly remind you not to misbehave, and just as constantly call on you to be at your best. All that is left for you to do is watch, listen, and respond appropriately to the cues.”
― Jordan B. Peterson, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life

“Why do you complain of your fate, when you could so easily change it?”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue

“If Sade's books are the kind which the French inelegantly describe as needing to be read with one hand, it is a sensible precaution to hold a sick-bowl in the other.”
― David Coward, The Misfortunes of Virtue and Other Early Tales

“Sade's ultimate achievement was to make sex the choicest expression of obscene cruelty and absolute, despotic power.”
― David Coward, The Misfortunes of Virtue and Other Early Tales