The Diamond Age

by Neal Stephenson

If the Coastal Republic had believed in the existence of virtue, it could at least have aspired to hypocrisy.

The difference between stupid and intelligent people—and this is true whether or not they are well-educated—is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations—in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward.