“The first day I served a Gold was the greatest pleasure I felt in all my life. I can't explain it to you. It was like meeting God. Now I know that it wasn't pleasure I felt. It was the absence of pain. That is how they train Pinks to live a life of slavery, Darrow. They raise us in the Gardens with implants in our bodies that fill our lives with pain. They call the device Cupid's kiss- the burn along the spine, the ache in the head. It never stops. Not even when you close your eyes. Not when you cry. It only stops when you obey. They take the Kiss away eventually. When we're twelve. But...you can't know what it's like, the fear that it'll come back, Darrow.”
Book:Golden Son