Now, boy, now... he said bewilderedly, what is all this talk of glory? Have you caught the sickness, too? Curse me for a blind beggar, I should have seen. This fever has cankered even your simple heart, hasn't it, Simon? I'm sorry. It takes a strong will or practiced eye to see through the glitter to the rotten core.
Chapter 10, King Hemlock (p. 139) - Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn - The Dragonbone Chair (1988)