“There's a very specific formula for creating a monster. It starts with chronic, unrelenting abuse. There's got to be societal notification and then passing on. The child eventually believes that what's being done is societally sanctioned. And after a while, empathy – which we have to learn, we're not born with it – cracks and dies. He feels only his own pain. There's your predatory sociopath." That's why Vachss posed for a recent publicity photo cradling his pit bull puppy. "You know what pit bulls are capable of, right?" he asks, referring to the animal's notorious killer reputation. "But they're also capable of being the most wonderful, sweet pets in the world, depending on how you raise them. That's all our children."”

— Andrew Vachss

Unleashing the Criminal Mind," San Francisco Examiner, July 12, 1990.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There's a very specific formula for creating a monster. It starts with chronic, unrelenting abuse. There's got to be so…" by Andrew Vachss?

Andrew Vachss 27

American writer and lawyer 1942

Related quotes

“"It was hard not to laugh. Determination like that in a ten-year-old is something to see. He was like a pit bull."
"If pit bulls wore glasses and were allergic to ragweed."”

Cassandra Clare The Mortal Instruments

Luke and Clary, pg. 211
The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

“Communism knows no monster. … Should abuse occur, the perpetrator would not be ostracized by his fellow human beings. They would not reject the social violator in order to reassure themselves of their humanity by comparing themselves to a non-human human, to a monster. They would be able to recognize what they have in common with him, and to realize that they could have done what he did. And this, we believe, is a much better way of reducing abuse to its lowest possible minimum than any search for normality.”

Gilles Dauvé (1947) French writer

"Moral Disorder & Sexual Identity," July 28, 2009 https://libcom.org/library/moral-disorder-gilles-dauv%C3%A9

“I'm going to level with you. I'm away for a while. But there's no cash on the premises, no drugs, and the pit bull's tested positive. Twice.”

William Gibson Blue Ant trilogy

She doesn't leave a message.
Source: Blue Ant trilogy, Pattern Recognition (2003), Chapter 36, "The Dig" (Parkaboy's outgoing message)

“I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”

Sarah Palin (1964) American politician

2008, 2008 Republican National Convention

“A person disconnected from empathy is a sociopath, but making that all about the president is to displace our outrage & responsibility from where it belongs. Our public policies have lacked empathy for decades. He did not create the spiritual void; the spiritual void created him.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Twitter https://twitter.com/marwilliamson (22 Oct 2019)
Williamson's quotes in social media

“He died that day because his body had served its purpose. His soul had done what it came to do, learned what it came to learn, and then was free to leave.”

Garth Stein The Art of Racing in the Rain

Source: The Art of Racing in the Rain

“Empathy has been in short supply in our nation recently. Our leaders are quick to congratulate us on our own feelings, slow to ask us to wonder how others feel. But maybe times are changing. Every Lee film is an exercise in empathy. He is not interested in congratulating the black people in his audience, or condemning the white ones. He puts human beings on the screen, and asks his audience to walk a little while in their shoes.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/malcolm-x-1992 of Malcolm X (18 November 1992)
Reviews, Four star reviews

“We're not doing what we do because of sanctions. We're doing what we do because we believe it is right.”

F. W. de Klerk (1936) South African politician

As quoted in Freedom in the World: Political Rights & Civil Liberties, 1990-1991 https://web.archive.org/web/20180917224837/https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Freedom_in_the_World_1990-1991_complete_book.pdf (1991), New York: Freedom House, p. 16
1990s

“In order to stay clear of pain, we must know and know why we feel best while having pain.”

Eugene J. Martin (1938–2005) American artist

Annotated Drawings by Eugene J. Martin: 1977-1978

“I'm afraid of passing out in the pit.”

Bill Allred

Radio From Hell (January 4, 2007)

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Andrew Vachss 27

Related quotes

Related topics