“Okay,” said Ceasar. “I’ll get along with you, Ezekial.” And you could hear his gentle, generous nature in his voice. You could hear it, actually, even when he said, “Ima fuck you up!” Gentleness sometimes expresses itself with the violence of pain or fear and so looks like aggression. Sometimes cruelty has a very charming smile.

–Mary Gaitskill, “Lost Cat: A Memoir”