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Reason shapes the future, but superstition infects the present.

— Iain Banks The State of the Art (1991)

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Religion

More quotes by Iain Banks

The news channels are spasming, or frothing, or whatever it is they do.

The Hydrogen Sonata (2013)

Beauty is something that disappears when you try to define it.

The State of the Art (1991)

Faith is the eye that sees nothing and rejoices in it.

Feersum Endjinn (1994)

While the forces of repression need to win every time, the progressive elements need only triumph once.

The State of the Art (1991)

Mocking the wisdom that comes with age is a fit sport only for those who expect never to attain much of it themselves.

Inversions (1998)

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All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.

Albert Einstein Moral Decay (1937)

Science and religion are two human enterprises sharing many features.

Freeman Dyson Infinite in All Directions (1988)

The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.

Thomas Babington Macaulay History of England (1849)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Iain Banks (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.