" If you don’t know I can’t tell you. Yes, I can; because I want to turn things around. Like, everybody all the time only does it for himself or something he sees being part of him only bigger, an empire or a church, like that. I’m doing it for ants, to set us loose.” The bearded man said, “You stoned?” “Sure I’m stoned. Ken, I’m stoned blind.” “You don’t look stoned, man.” “Trust me. "

― Gene Wolfe , The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction