Colin Brosnan

“I have traveled far, and I have observed that poor people usually have more wit and more virtue than rich ones.” He smiled at that. “You are kind. But our people have so much wit and virtue now that they may die. We have never possessed great numbers, and many perished in the winter just past, when much water froze.”

– from Sword & Citadel: The Second Half of ‘The Book of the New Sun’ by Gene Wolfe