I turned my head to look at the Ascian. It was clear that…

““I turned my head to look at the Ascian. It was clear that he had been listening attentively, but I could not be certain of what his expression meant beyond that. “Those who write the approved texts,” I told him, “cannot themselves be quoting from approved texts as they write. Therefore even an approved text may contain elements of disloyalty.” “Correct Thought is the thought of the populace. The populace cannot betray the populace or the Group of Seventeen.” Foila called, “Don’t insult the populace or the Group of Seventeen. He might try to kill himself. Sometimes they do.” “Will he ever be normal?” “I’ve heard that some of them eventually come to talk more or less the way we do, if that’s what you mean.” I could think of nothing to say to that, and for some time we were quiet. There are long periods of silence, I found, in such a place, where almost everyone is ill. We knew that we had watch after watch to occupy; that if we did not say what we wished to say that afternoon there would be another opportunity that evening and another again the next morning. Indeed, anyone who talked as healthy people normally do—after a meal, for example—would have been intolerable.””

— Gene Wolfe