Maybe it wasn't anything remotely to do with religion, mysticism or metaphilosophy after all; maybe it was more banal; maybe it was just...accounting. Iain Banks More Quotes by Iain Banks More Quotes From Iain Banks Empathize with stupidity and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot. Iain Banks idiot stupidity thinking People were always sorry. Sorry they had done what they had done, sorry they were doing what they were doing, sorry they were going to do what they were going to do; but they still did whatever it is. The sorrow never stopped them; it just made them feel better. And so the sorrow never stopped. Iain Banks feel-better sorry people The point is, there is no feasible excuse for what are, for what we have made of ourselves. We have chosen to put profits before people, money before morality, dividends before decency, fanaticism before fairness, and our own trivial comforts before the unspeakable agonies of others Iain Banks agony comfort people People can be teachers and idiots; they can be philosophers and idiots; they can be politicians and idiots... in fact I think they have to be... a genius can be an idiot. The world is largely run for and by idiots; it is no great handicap in life and in certain areas is actually a distinct advantage and even a prerequisite for advancement. Iain Banks running teacher thinking One should never mistake pattern for meaning. Iain Banks patterns should mistake Truth, I have learned, differs for everybody. Just as no two people ever see a rainbow in exactly the same place - and yet both most certainly see it, while the person seemingly standing right underneath it does not see it at all - so truth is a question of where one stands, and the direction one is looking in at the time. Iain Banks truth two people There's an old Sysan saying that the soup of life is salty enough without adding tears to it. Iain Banks soup tears life-is Science fiction is trying to find alternative ways of looking at realities. Iain Banks alternatives trying reality Perdition awaits at the end of a road constructed entirely from good intentions, the devil emerges from the details and hell abides in the small print. Iain Banks good-intentions details devil An Outside Context Problem was the sort of thing most civilisations encountered just once, and which they tended to encounter rather in the same way a sentence encountered a full stop. Iain Banks encounters problem way Political correctness is what right-wing bigots call what everybody else calls being polite Iain Banks polite political wings A guilty system recognizes no innocents. Iain Banks guilty guilt The trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense, whereas real life doesn't. Iain Banks real writing fiction One of your American professors said that to study religion was merely to know the mind of man, but if one truly wanted to know the mind of God, you must study physics. Iain Banks study mind men You need to read more science fiction. Nobody who reads science fiction comes out with this crap about the end of history Iain Banks ends fiction needs If you have any helpful suggestions I'd be pleased to hear them. If all you can do is make snide insinuations then it would probably benefit all concerned if you bestowed the fruits of your prodigious wit on someone with the spare time to give them the consideration they doubtless deserve. Iain Banks suggestions benefits giving Half the fun of writing a novel is finding out from other people later on what you actually meant. Iain Banks writing fun people By the usual reckoning, the worst books make the best films. Iain Banks film usual book All our lives are symbols. Everything we do is part of a pattern we have at least some say in. The strong make their own patterns and influence other people's, the weak have their courses mapped out for them. The weak and the unlucky, and the stupid. Iain Banks strong stupid people My point has always been that, ever since the Industrial Revolution, science fiction has been the most important genre there is. Iain Banks revolution important fiction
