Literary Quote Completion: The Great Gatsby

The completed sentence from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (Chapter 9) reads:

"Even when the East excited me most, even I was keenly aware of its superiority to bored, sprawling, swollen towns beyond Ohio with their interminable inquisitions which spared only the wealthy."

Nick Carraway reflects on the moral hollowness of the Midwest compared to the glittering, corrupt East, noting that even the tedious scrutiny of small-town life exempts the rich.