“Any theory which causes solipsism to seem just as likely an explanation for the phenomena it seeks to describe ought to be held in the utmost suspicion.”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from The Algebraist
“It was a truism that all civilizations were basically neurotic until they made contact with everybody else and found their place within the ever-changing meta-civilisation of other beings, because, until then, during the stage when they honestly believed they might be entirely alone in existence, all solo societies were possessed of both an inflated sense of their own importance and a kind of existential terror at the sheer scale and apparent emptiness of the universe.”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from The Algebraist
“I have a story to tell you. It has many beginnings, and perhaps one ending. Perhaps not. Beginnings and endings are contingent things anyway; inventions, devices. Where does any story really begin? There is always context, always an encompassingly greater epic, always something before the described events, unless we are to start every story with “BANG! Expand! Sssss…,” then itemize the whole subsequent history of the universe before settling down, at last, to the particular tale in question. Similarly, no ending is final, unless it is the end of all things…”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from The Algebraist
“If I had to guess, nephew, I would surmise that you are not in direct trouble as such. However, I will confess to the distinct and unsettling feeling that very large, very ponderous and most momentous wheels have been set in motion. When that happens I believe the lessons of history tend to indicate that it is best not to be in their way. Even without meaning harm, the workings and progress of such wheels are on a scale which inevitably reduces the worth of individual lives to an irrelevance at best.”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from The Algebraist
“[H]e was one of those people who got to the top of an organisation through luck, connections, the indulgence of superiors and that sort of carelessness towards others that the easily impressed termed ruthlessness and those of a less gullible nature called sociopathy. But sometimes, just through his sheer unthinking brusqueness and inability to think through the consequences of a remark, he said what everybody else was only thinking. A comic poet working in obscene doggerel.”
― Iain M. Banks, quote from The Algebraist
Iain M. Banks
Born place: in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Born date February 16, 1954
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“I might not be able to hold my drink or my man, but what I can hold, is a tune. Point me in the right direction and give me a bloody mic.”
― Lindsey Kelk, quote from I Heart New York
“Without books, I would have gone insane long ago.”
― Damien Echols, quote from Life After Death
“Getty’s 55-cent-a-barrel royalty to the Saudis loomed over Aminoil’s 35-cent royalty to Kuwait, the roughly 33-cent royalty that Aramco had just been compelled to pay the Saudis—and far overshadowed the 16½ cents that Anglo-Iranian and the Iraq Petroleum Company were paying in Iran and Iraq respectively, as well as the 15-cent royalty that the Kuwait Oil Company was paying.”
― Daniel Yergin, quote from The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
“Trong giọng hát của Phương như đều đều hơi thở tâm hồn của một lớp thanh niên được sinh ra ở đời chỉ cốt dành cho cuộc chiến tranh bắt đầu từ ngày hôm ấy. Trên khuôn mặt nghiêm nghị của một trong ba người linh nước mắt nặng nề ứa ra dưới cặp lông mày nhíu lại. Chiến tranh! Chiến tranh! ấy chính là tiếng gầm của biển trong suốt đêm bốn rạng mồng năm tháng tám. Bãi cát dài hình vòng cung ầm ầm sóng xô. Đột ngột hai đốm lửa bay chéo ra từ cùng một điểm trên trời tách thành hai làn chớp biếc vụt sa xuống. Những người ngủ trong bãi cát và ngủ trong lều vải đã thức cả dậy tới quây quần bên đống lửa đã lụi. Tất cả đều im lặng. dường như cùng nín thở.”
― Bảo Ninh, quote from The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam
“Before roaring over Fingap Falls, the River Blapp was wide and peaceful, clear as a spring, and the fish to be caught there were both delicious and docile, except for the many fish that were poisonous to the touch, and the daggerfish that were known to leap into boats and impale the stoutest fisherman.”
― Andrew Peterson, quote from On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
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A Study in CharlotteBookQuoters 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.
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