“I think you underguess the workings of blind chance, sir.”" - Meaning and context.">
Chapter 8 “Tower” (p. 132)

“Fate, I tell you, if not the hand of the WorldGod itself…or whatever manipulatory appendage WorldGods possess. Anyway, the hand, metaphorically, of the WorldGod. Possibly.”
“I think you underguess the workings of blind chance, sir.”

— Iain Banks

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "“Fate, I tell you, if not the hand of the WorldGod itself…or whatever manipulatory appendage WorldGods possess. Anyway, the hand, metaphorically, of the WorldGod. Possibly.”
“I think you underguess the workings of blind chance, sir.”" in the context of "Chapter 8 “Tower” (p. 132)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Iain Banks" (Quotes, Culture series, Matter (2008): All page numbers are from the February 2009 first trade paperback edition published by Orbit , 2nd printing All spelling, italics, and punctuation as in the book ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Iain Banks

About Iain Banks

Iain Menzies Banks (February 16, 1954 – June 9, 2013), officially Iain Banks, was a Scottish writer. As Iain M. Banks he wrote science fiction; as Iain Banks he wrote literary fiction.