--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...your service will be arduous, it will…" description: "\"...your service will be arduous, it will be painful and rigorous, and the slightest delinquencies will be requited immediately with corporal and afflic..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c81/marquis-de-sade-1964_abnegation_your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be_2968136.jpg" --- # ...your service will be arduous, it will be painful and… ![“...your service will be arduous, it will be painful and rigorous, and the slightest delinquencies will be requited immediately with corporal and afflicting punishments; hence, I must recommend to you prompt exactness, submissiveness, and total self-abnegation that you be enabled to heed naught but…” quote by Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c81/marquis-de-sade-1964_abnegation_your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be_2968136.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c81/marquis-de-sade-1964_abnegation_your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be_2968136.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c81/marquis-de-sade-1964_abnegation_your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be_2968136.jpg) > “...your service will be arduous, it will be painful and rigorous, and the slightest delinquencies will be requited immediately with corporal and afflicting punishments; hence, I must recommend to you prompt exactness, submissiveness, and total self-abnegation that you be enabled to heed naught but our desires; let them be your laws, fly to do their bidding, anticipate them, cause them to be born...” [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Advocates strict obedience, self‑negation, and ruthless enforcement of desires, warning of harsh punishments. **In simple terms:** Demand total obedience and self‑negation. Key Takeaway Submit fully to authority. Themes power obedience punishment Mood critical dark Type philosophical controversial When to use this quote - military discipline - cult dynamics - extreme regimes Key Concepts authoritarianism self‑sacrifice Questions to Reflect On - Is total submission ever justified? - What are the costs of self‑negation? A Different Perspective Such extreme control erodes humanity and freedom. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Delinquency](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delinquency/) [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Exactness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exactness/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Punishment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/punishment/) [Punishments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/punishments/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) [Service](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/service/) ## Related quotes > [I have long felt that the way to keep children out of trouble is to keep them interested in things. Lecturing to children is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-disney/i-have-long-felt-that-the-way-to-keep-children-out-of-trouble-is-to/) [Walt Disney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-disney/) > [ \[A\] man and still more the woman, who can be accused either of doing "what nobody does," or of not doing "what everybody does,"… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/a-man-and-still-more-the-woman-who-can-be-accused-either-of-doing/) [John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/) > [For the kids, who in their lives have never known the slightest power, delinquency is a way of looking for power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alma-guillermoprieto/for-the-kids-who-in-their-lives-have-never-known-the-slightest-power/) [Alma Guillermoprieto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alma-guillermoprieto/) > [Would you have a strong and virile nation, keep your homes pure; would you reduce delinquency and crime, lessen the number of broken homes.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/would-you-have-a-strong-and-virile-nation-keep-your-homes-pure-would/) [David O. McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-mckay/) > [Every unpunished delinquency has a family of delinquencies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/every-unpunished-delinquency-has-a-family-of-delinquencies/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [“...as we are endowed. ...with rhetorics. ...none will deny. ...of innocence. ...towards scribbling. ...of love lines. ...and of lust. ...to what seems like male.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/as-we-are-endowed-with-rhetorics-none-will-deny-of-innocence-towards/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [I've seen villages in South America with no police whatever. Then the cops would arrive, then the sanitary inspectors, and before you know it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-s-burroughs/i-ve-seen-villages-in-south-america-with-no-police-whatever-then-the/) [William S. Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-s-burroughs/) > [While rising delinquencies and foreclosures will continue to weigh heavily on the housing market this year, it will not cripple the U.S.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-bernanke/while-rising-delinquencies-and-foreclosures-will-continue-to-weigh/) [Ben Bernanke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-bernanke/) > [Until the image of the black man in the mind of the black man has been changed, there will always be delinquency, parental and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/until-the-image-of-the-black-man-in-the-mind-of-the-black-man-has/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [The thief or swindler who has gained great wealth by his delinquency has a better chance than the small thief of escaping the rigorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thorstein-veblen/the-thief-or-swindler-who-has-gained-great-wealth-by-his-delinquency/) [Thorstein Veblen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thorstein-veblen/) > [Education, the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-muggeridge/education-the-great-mumbo-jumbo-and-fraud-of-the-age/) [Malcolm Muggeridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-muggeridge/) > [These data suggest very strongly that participating in the playing of violent video games by children and youth increase aggressive thought and behavior; increase…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leland-yee/these-data-suggest-very-strongly-that-participating-in-the-playing-of/) Leland Yee > [This idea that the employment of women, the movement of women outside the home into the work world, and their demand for equality is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betty-friedan/this-idea-that-the-employment-of-women-the-movement-of-women-outside/) [Betty Friedan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betty-friedan/) > [My father kept me busy from dawn to dusk when I was a kid. When I wasn't pitching hay, hauling corn or running a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-feller/my-father-kept-me-busy-from-dawn-to-dusk-when-i-was-a-kid-when-i-wasn/) [Bob Feller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-feller/) > [God's justice, tardy though it prove perchance, Rests never on the track until it reach Delinquency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-browning/god-s-justice-tardy-though-it-prove-perchance-rests-never-on-the/) [Robert Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-browning/) ## More by Marquis de Sade > [What you call disorder is nothing else than one of the laws of the order you comprehend not and which you have erroneously named…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/what-you-call-disorder-is-nothing-else-than-one-of-the-laws-of-the/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [And if I were a naughty little boy, the idea is to spank me into good behavior?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/and-if-i-were-a-naughty-little-boy-the-idea-is-to-spank-me-into-good/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [There is a kind of pleasure which comes from sacrilege or the profanation of the objects offered us for worship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/there-is-a-kind-of-pleasure-which-comes-from-sacrilege-or-the/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [“To enlighten mankind and improve its morals is the only lesson which we offer in this story. In reading it, may the world discover…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/to-enlighten-mankind-and-improve-its-morals-is-the-only-lesson-which/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [What we are doing here is only the image of what we would like to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/what-we-are-doing-here-is-only-the-image-of-what-we-would-like-to-do/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Happiness lies neither in vice nor in virtue; but in the manner we appreciate the one and the other, and the choice we make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/happiness-lies-neither-in-vice-nor-in-virtue-but-in-the-manner-we/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [What does one want when one is engaged in the sexual act? That everything around you give you its utter attention, think only of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/what-does-one-want-when-one-is-engaged-in-the-sexual-act-that/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [ The law which attempts a man's life \[capital punishment\] is impractical, unjust, inadmissible. It has never repressed crime--for a second crime is every day… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/the-law-which-attempts-a-man-s-life-capital-punishment-is-impractical/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Between understanding and faith immediate connections must subsist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/between-understanding-and-faith-immediate-connections-must-subsist/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [My passions, concentrated on a single point, resemble the rays of a sun assembled by a magnifying glass: they immediately set fire to whatever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/my-passions-concentrated-on-a-single-point-resemble-the-rays-of-a-sun/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [The idea of God is the sole wrong for which I cannot forgive mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/the-idea-of-god-is-the-sole-wrong-for-which-i-cannot-forgive-mankind/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Imperious, choleric, irascible, extreme in everything, with a dissolute imagination the like of which has never been seen, atheistic to the point of fanaticism,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/imperious-choleric-irascible-extreme-in-everything-with-a-dissolute/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Lust's passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/lust-s-passion-will-be-served-it-demands-it-militates-it-tyrannizes/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [“In order to know virtue, we must acquaint ourselves with vice. Only then can we know the true measure of a man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/in-order-to-know-virtue-we-must-acquaint-ourselves-with-vice-only/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) > [Never may an act of possession be exercised upon a free being; the exclusive possession of a woman is no less unjust than the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/never-may-an-act-of-possession-be-exercised-upon-a-free-being-the/) [Marquis de Sade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) [Explore all 181 Marquis de Sade quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/) ## More Abnegation quotes > [And he’s right to say that every faction loses something when it gains a virtue: the Dauntless, brave but cruel; the Erudite, intelligent but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/and-he-s-right-to-say-that-every-faction-loses-something-when-it/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [We all have to lead our own life, and we only have the one life, and the only people who can live life not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/javier-mar-as/we-all-have-to-lead-our-own-life-and-we-only-have-the-one-life-and/) [Javier Marías](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/javier-mar-as/) > [There is in even the most selfish passion a large element of self-abnegation. It is startling to realize that what we call extreme self-seeking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/there-is-in-even-the-most-selfish-passion-a-large-element-of-self/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [All women are brought up from the very earliest years in the belief that their ideal of character is the very opposite to that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/all-women-are-brought-up-from-the-very-earliest-years-in-the-belief/) [John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/) > [“Dear David, I’m sorry, but it’s not going to happen the way we planned it. I can’t do it. I know you’re just going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/dear-david-i-m-sorry-but-it-s-not-going-to-happen-the-way-we-planned/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [“I guess I grew suspicious of both. Power and knowledge," I say. "To the Abnegation, power should only be given to people who don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/i-guess-i-grew-suspicious-of-both-power-and-knowledge-i-say-to-the/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [“Your Abnegation is showing,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/your-abnegation-is-showing/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [“I also remember that my father was one of the people who voted to get the Dauntless out of the factionless sector of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/i-also-remember-that-my-father-was-one-of-the-people-who-voted-to-get/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [I will be my undoing If I become my obsession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/i-will-be-my-undoing-if-i-become-my-obsession/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [She tips her chin up and looks at me with that Abnegation stubbornness I know so well. She may have left them, but they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/she-tips-her-chin-up-and-looks-at-me-with-that-abnegation/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [Power is violence, its promise, its deed. Power cares nothing for reason, nothing for justice, nothing for compassion. It is, in fact, the singular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/power-is-violence-its-promise-its-deed-power-cares-nothing-for-reason/) [Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/) > [Yeah, well," I say, "I left Abnegation because I wasn't selfless enough, no matter how hard I tried to be." "That's not entirely true."…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/yeah-well-i-say-i-left-abnegation-because-i-wasn-t-selfless-enough-no/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [I knew by the way he looked at her that he held her in a higher regard than he held even himself. No selfishness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/i-knew-by-the-way-he-looked-at-her-that-he-held-her-in-a-higher/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [“no wonder you left." Yeah," i say, rolling my eyes. " It was just because of the food.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/no-wonder-you-left-yeah-i-say-rolling-my-eyes-it-was-just-because-of/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [Few people who are born into Abnegation choose to leave it. When they do, we remember.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/few-people-who-are-born-into-abnegation-choose-to-leave-it-when-they/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) Browse all 82 Abnegation quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "...your service will be arduous, it will be painful and rigorous, and the slightest delinquencies will be requited immediately with corporal and afflicting punishments; hence, I must recommend to you prompt exactness, submissiveness, and total self-abnegation that you be enabled to heed naught but our desires; let them be your laws, fly to do their bidding, anticipate them, cause them to be born...", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marquis de Sade" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be-painful-and-rigorous-and-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Abnegation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be-painful-and-rigorous-and-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c81/marquis-de-sade-1964_abnegation_your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be_2968136.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c81/marquis-de-sade-1964_abnegation_your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be_2968136.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c81/marquis-de-sade-1964_abnegation_your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be_2968136.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“...your service will be arduous, it will be painful and rigorous, and the slightest delinquencies will be…” — Marquis de Sade", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Marquis de Sade", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marquis-de-sade/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "...your service will be arduous, it...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be-painful-and-rigorous-and-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marquis-de-sade/your-service-will-be-arduous-it-will-be-painful-and-rigorous-and-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```