Until the third morning, when Wim finally declared, “Everything’s a trick, if’n you can see behind it, just like with them witches in the hills. Everything’s got a–reason. I think there ain’t no such thing as magic!”
Jagit fixed him with a long mild look, and the specter of the night in the Grandfather Grove seemed to flicker in the dark eyes. “You think not, eh?”
Wim looked down nervously.
“There’s magic, all right, Wim; all around you here. Only now you’re seeing it with a magician’s eyes. Because there’s a reason behind everything that happens; you may not know what it is, but it’s there. And knowing that doesn’t make the thing less magic, or strange, or terrible—it just makes it easier to deal with. That’s something to keep in mind, wherever you are … . Also keep in mind that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”
Wim nodded, chastened, felt his ears grow red as the peddler muttered, “So’s a little ignorance…”
-- The Peddler’s Apprentice by Joan and Vernor Vinge
-- The Peddler’s Apprentice by Joan and Vernor Vinge