"'Oh, God, oh, Jesus God, why must they be either brutes or choirboys? Stewardess,' she says, grabbing the girl's arm as she passes in the aisle, 'I don't want a drink, I've had enough. I only want to ask a question of you. Don't be frightened. Why are they either brutes or choirboys, do you know?' 'Who, madam?' 'Don't you find that in your travels from one continent to the other? They're even afraid, you know, of a sweet little thing like you. That's why you have to go around grinning like that. Just look the bastards right in the eye and they're either at your knees or at your throat.'" -Philip Roth, The Professor of Desire