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The old and powerful never want to let go. They always think they’re both profoundly indispensable and uniquely right. They are always wrong. Part of the function of ageing and dying is to let the next generation have its say, its time in the sun, to sweep away the mistakes of the previous age while, if they’re lucky, retaining the advances made and the benefits accrued.

— Iain Banks Transition (2009)

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More quotes by Iain Banks

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

The Hydrogen Sonata (2013)

Reason shapes the future, but superstition infects the present.

The State of the Art (1991)

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)

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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.