“My dear Professore,” Madame d’Ortolan said, sighing, “we might greet anarchy with an open door, garland its brows, compared to what this might lead to, trust me.”" - Meaning and context.">
Chapter 13 (p. 320)

“It might, I suppose, lead to anarchy,” the Professore said profoundly, frowning somewhere towards the floor.
“My dear Professore,” Madame d’Ortolan said, sighing, “we might greet anarchy with an open door, garland its brows, compared to what this might lead to, trust me.”

— Iain Banks

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "“It might, I suppose, lead to anarchy,” the Professore said profoundly, frowning somewhere towards the floor.
“My dear Professore,” Madame d’Ortolan said, sighing, “we might greet anarchy with an open door, garland its brows, compared to what this might lead to, trust me.”" in the context of "Chapter 13 (p. 320)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Iain Banks" (Quotes, Non-Culture Novels, Transition (2009): All page numbers are from the hardcover U.S. first edition, published by Orbit, , in September 2009, first printing ) 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.