“Tishlin’s dubious look indicated he wasn’t totally convinced this phrase contributed enormously to the information-carrying capacity of the language.”

—  Iain Banks, Culture series

Source: Culture series, Excession (1996), Chapter 2 “Not Invented Here” section II (p. 58).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Tishlin’s dubious look indicated he wasn’t totally convinced this phrase contributed enormously to the information-carr…" by Iain Banks?
Iain Banks photo
Iain Banks139
Scottish writer 1954–2013

Related quotes

Howard S. Becker photo

“Every part of the photographic image carries some information that contributes to its total statement; the viewer's responsibility is to see, in the most literal way, everything that is there and respond to it”

Howard S. Becker (1928) American sociologist

Becker (1986) "Do Photographs Tell the Truth?” and “Aesthetics and Truth" as cited in: Ingolf Erler (2010) Das Buch als soziales Symbol. p. 147.

Noam Chomsky photo

“In summary, it is the diversity of human behavior, its appropriateness to new situations, and man’s capacity to innovate – the creative aspect of language use providing the principal indication of this –that leads Descartes to attribute possession of mind to other humans, since he regards this capacity as beyond the limitations of any imaginable mechanism.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

"Creative aspect of language use"
Quotes 2000s, 2007-09, (3rd ed., 2009)

“Language is the most formless means of expression. Its capacity to describe concepts without physical or visual references carries us into an advanced state of abstraction.”

Ian Wilson (conceptual artist) (1940–2020) American artist, born 1940

Source: Conceptual Art, (1984), as cited in: " Ian Wilson, plug in #47; exhibition 27/09/2008 - 08/03/2009 http://vanabbemuseum.nl/en/programme/detail/?tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bptype%5D=18&tx_vabdisplay_pi1%5Bproject%5D=349 at Van Abbemuseum.nl, The Netherlands.

Benjamin Disraeli photo

“The very phrase "foreign affairs" makes an Englishman convinced that I am about to treat of subjects with which he has no concern.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Source: Speech to the Conservatives of Manchester (3 April 1872), quoted in William Flavelle Monypenny and George Earle Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. Volume II. 1860–1881 (London: John Murray, 1929), p. 531.

“The total lack of information is a kind of information in itself.”

Charles E. Gannon (1960) American novelist

Source: Trial by Fire (2014), Chapter 25 (p. 364)

Thomas Sowell photo

“Key indicators require some specified time span during which they are to be tabulated for purposes of reward or penalty. The time span can vary enormously according to the process and the indicator.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

Source: 1980s–1990s, Knowledge and Decisions (1980; 1996), Ch. 1 : The Role of Knowledge

“I was the second woman to hold that position in a thirty-year period—and that wasn’t acceptable to me. Clearly, there wasn’t enough awareness of the contributions women can bring to organizations and the economy.”

Nina Vaca businessperson

Nina Vaca: The Dream Maker https://hispanicexecutive.com/2017/nina-vaca-top-ten-lideres-2017/, Hispanic Executive (November 1, 2017)

William H. Seward photo

“He is the most gentle-looking and amiable of men. Every word and look indicate sincerity of heart, even to guilelessness.”

William H. Seward (1801–1872) American lawyer and politician

Journal entry (27 February 1849) on President Zachary Taylor, published in The Autobiography of William H. Seward (1877).

Cassandra Clare photo

“Magnus did not have enormous respect for the Law, but if he was breaking it he wanted to look good doing it.”

Cassandra Clare The Bane Chronicles

Source: The Bane Chronicles

Ronald Fisher photo

“There is, then, in this analysis of variance no indication of any other than innate and heritable factors at work. (Coining of the phrase ‘analysis of variance’.)”

Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) English statistician, evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and eugenicist

The causes of human variability. Eugenics Review 10, 213-220, 1918.
1910s–1920s

Related topics