"Every command consists of momentum and sting. The momentum forces the recipient to act, and to act in accordance with the content of the command; the sting remains behind in him. When a command functions normally and as one expects, there is nothing to be seen of the sting; it is hidden and unsuspected and may only reveal its existence by some faint, scarcely perceptible recalcitrance before the command obeyed."
Elias Canetti was a Bulgarian-born writer in the German language and the winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature. His notable works include Auto-da-Fe and the study Crowds and Power.