# Quote — William Gibson, Agency

> “How far back did Vespasian go,” Netherton asked, “to initiate this stub?”
>
> “Mid-2015.”
>
> “When is it, there, now?”
>
> “2017,” she said, “fall.”
>
> “Much changed?”
>
> “The outcome of the previous year’s American presidential election. Brexit referendum as well….”
>
> “But why would Vespasian, of all people, have desired positive change?”
>
> “He was a sadist,” said Lowbeer, “and terribly clever at it…when he failed to return to fine-tune and amplify course, as he always did, things went their own way.”
>
> “How is it there, given that?”
>
> “Grim. They’re being driven into the same blades we were, but at a less acute angle.”

- Author: [William Gibson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-gibson.md)
- Book: [Agency](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-gibson/agency.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jackpot_trilogy#Agency_(2020)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-gibson/agency/how-far-back

## More from this book

> Netherton said nothing, something he’d only recently been learning to deliberately do.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-gibson/agency/netherton-said-nothing.md)

> “Turkey and Syria weirding you out?…Folks in Frankfurt made me feel like the Cold War never really went away. Somebody shoots down a couple of Russian jets, wham, it’s Cold War Atlantis, risen from the depths.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-gibson/agency/turkey-and-syria.md)

> “What’s going on?” asked Manuela, eyeing the container’s door. “Is this a cult? Kidnapping people and telling them somebody’s after them?”
>
> “Let me think about it,” Verity said.
>
> “You’re kidnapped too? Let’s fucking escape!”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-gibson/agency/whats-going-on-asked.md)