Sometimes it leaps suddenly upon its victims, like a Thug; sometimes it lays a regular siege and creeps upon their citadel during a score of years.
它有时像刺客,突然扑向受害者;有时则展开长久围困,用二十年的光阴慢慢逼近人的堡垒。
— Robert Louis Stevenson · Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers · Æs Triplex —