"Come out of the fog, young man. And remember you don't have to be a complete fool in order to succeed. Play the game, but don't believe in it---that much you owe yourself. Even if it lands you in a strait jacket or a padded cell. Play the game, but play it your own way----part of the time at least. Play the game, but raise the ante, my boy. Learn how it operates, learn how you operate---I wish I had more time to tell you only a fragment. We're an ass-backward people, though. You might even beat the game. It's really a very crude affair. Really pre-Renaissance---and that game has been analyzed, put down in books. But down here they've forgotten to take care of the books and that's your opportunity. You're hidden right out in the open---that is, you would be if you only realized it. They wouldn't see you because they don't expect you to know anything, since they believe they've taken care of that. . . . ."

-----The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison