Reminds me of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation": Lundin Crast said, "And where is the analysis?" "That," replied Hardin, "is the interesting thing. The analysis was

Reminds me of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation": Lundin Crast said, "And where is the analysis?" "That," replied Hardin, "is the interesting thing. The analysis was the most difficult of the three by all odds. When Holk, after two days of steady work, succeeded in eliminating meaningless statements, vague gibberish, useless qualifications in short, all the goo and dribble he found he had nothing left. Everything canceled out." "Lord Dorwin, gentlemen, in five days of discussion didn't say one damned thing, and said it so you never noticed. There are the assurances you had from your precious Empire."