POWER

But to expect that, after I have gone to such lengths, I should not reap the rewards, or that, having raised myself so much above other women by my painstaking efforts, I should now consent to creep along as they do, in between recklessness and timidity; or, above all, that I should so fear a man that I saw no safety anywhere except in fleeing him? No, Vicomte, never. One must conquer or die. As for Prévan, I want him, and I shall have him. He wants to be able to say so, and he shall not say so. And there, in brief, is our story. Adieu.

(Letter LXXXI, The Marquise de Merteuil to the Vicomte de Valmont)