Chapter 1 “Overture” (p. 19)
“
“Put plainly, I am not at liberty to divulge that information. There, it is said. Let us quickly move on from this unfortunate quantum of dissonance to the ground-state of accord which I trust will inform our future relationship.”
“So you’re not going to tell me.” Sharrow nodded.
“My dear lady,” the machine said, continuing to trundle after her. “Without saying so in so many words...correct.”
— Iain Banks
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "“Put plainly, I am not at liberty to divulge that information. There, it is said. Let us quickly move on from this unfortunate quantum of dissonance to the ground-state of accord which I trust will inform our future relationship.”
“So you’re not going to tell me.” Sharrow nodded.
“My dear lady,” the machine said, continuing to trundle after her. “Without saying so in so many words...correct.”" in the context of "Chapter 1 “Overture” (p. 19)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Iain Banks" (Quotes, Non-Culture Novels, Against a Dark Background (1993): All page numbers are from the trade paperback edition published by Orbit, , in 1995
All italics and ellipses as in the book, unless otherwise noted )
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Tags
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.
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.
View all quotes →