" Aren’t there any, dear?’ ‘No,’ said Fuchsia. ‘Why aren’t there?’ Fuchsia realized that Mrs Slagg knew virtually nothing, but the long custom of asking her questions was a hard one to break down. This realization that grown-ups did not necessarily know any more than children was something against which she had fought. "

― Mervyn Peake , Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)