““[He] just wants [...] forgiveness?" "Sma, given all the things Zakalwe’s done, just since we’ve known him, they’d have to invent a personal deity for him alone, to even start forgiving him." Sma turned away to look at the blank screen again. She shook her head and said quietly, "It doesn’t work that way, Skaffen-Amtiskaw." Or any other way, the drone thought to itself, but didn’t say anything.””
![“[He] just wants [...] forgiveness?" "Sma, given all the things Zakalwe’s done, just since we’ve known him, they’d have to invent a personal deity for him alone, to even start forgiving him." Sma turned away to look at the blank screen again. She shook her head and said quietly, "It doesn’t work…” quote by Iain M. Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/260/iain-m-banks-3729_foregiveness_he-just-wants-forgiveness-sma-given-all_2852807.jpg)
![“[I]t was really only in the generation or two before hers that the idea had started to traverse the spectrum of likelihood in the popular imagination, beginning at unthinkable, progressing to absurd, then going from possible but unlikely to probable and likely, before eventually arriving – round…” quote by Iain M. Banks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e3b/iain-m-banks-3729_ideas_i-t-was-really-only-in-the-generation-or_47398.jpg)
