Quotes from Espedair Street

Iain Banks ·  256 pages

Rating: (5.9K votes)


“There are times when you can't do the sensible thing, when you can't act like a responsible adult at all; you just have to do whatever insane thing comes into your head. When bad people do it they end up murderers, when good people do it they end up heroes, and when the rest of do it we end up looking like total idiots. But when's that ever stopped us?”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street


“The sunset was really over, but a thunderously deep stain of red still lay across the furthest limit of the western sky. I looked out to it for a moment. Skye was somewhere out there, more felt than seen.”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street


“... as fur sneak nuclear attacks on anithir country, there was only wan state in history had ever done that, an it wiznae the fuckin Soviet Union.' - McCann”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street


“He was one of those men ... who know in their hearts that for all their edgy, belligerent hardness they are just unhappy kids, emotional retards.”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street


“There's this sloth in the jungle walking from one tree to another, and it's mugged by a gang of snails, and when the police ask the sloth if it could identify any of its attackers, it says, 'I don't know; it all happened so quickly...”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street



“And even a small amount of talent can go an appallingly long way, these days.”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street


“Aye,’ McCann said ruefully, ‘if yer rich yer just eccentric; if yer poor yer a nutcase an they stick ye in the bin.”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street


“Peddle one of the least harmful drugs humanity's ever discovered, and you get twenty years. Peddle something that kills a hundred thousand a year... and you get a knighthood.”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street


“I still don't understand fashion. Why do people dress up in new styles in the first place if they're only going to act all embarrassed and ashamed about them later?”
― Iain Banks, quote from Espedair Street


About the author

Iain Banks
Born place: in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Born date February 16, 1954
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“My lungs feel like they're imploding. Every part of my body feels like it's trying to run, screaming, from every other part of my body.
And then, apparently, the warm-up is over.”
― Melissa Keil, quote from Life in Outer Space


“Some fall in glorious ways. On green fields of battle as old warriors, surrounded by friends, fighting for their homes, fighting cruelty.

Some fall crawling in the dirt of Forrestville, Tennessee, in the dark, impossibly young and alone, for no good reason at all.”
― Jeff Zentner, quote from The Serpent King


“Yo me cago en la heroína. Los chavales que se inyectan se convierten en adictos a la felicidad y eso no perdona, ya que a la felicidad se la conoce por sus estados de carencia.”
― Romain Gary, quote from The Life Before Us ("Madame Rosa'')


“Pauli turned to the audience and argued, “Yes, my theory is crazy enough!” Then Bohr insisted, “No, your theory is not crazy enough!”
― Leonard Mlodinow, quote from The Upright Thinkers: The Human Journey from Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos


“Marriage is patterned after Christ’s covenant relationship to his redeemed people, the church. And therefore, the highest meaning and the most ultimate purpose of marriage is to put the covenant relationship of Christ and his church on display. That is why marriage exists. If you are married, that is why you are married. If you hope to be, that should be your dream.”
― John Piper, quote from This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence


Interesting books

Untamed
(3.4K)
Untamed
by A.G. Howard
Nine Coaches Waiting
(10.4K)
Nine Coaches Waiting
by Mary Stewart
Road of the Patriarch
(6.5K)
Road of the Patriarc...
by R.A. Salvatore
The Farming of Bones
(6.5K)
The Farming of Bones
by Edwidge Danticat
Divine Justice
(41K)
Divine Justice
by David Baldacci
For the Love of a Vampire
(6.8K)
For the Love of a Va...
by Michelle Leighton

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.