IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS OF SIXPENCE

In a dying civilization, political prestige is the reward not of the shrewdest diagnostician but of the man with the best bedside manner.  It is the decoration conferred on mediocrity by ignorance.

Procol Harum: In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence (Link) 

Eric Ambler:  The Mask Of Dimitrios (1939)