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It looks perverted and wasteful to us, but then one thing that empires are not about is the efficient use of resources and the spread of happiness; both are typically accomplished despite the economic short-circuiting—corruption and favoritism, mostly—endemic to the system.

— Iain Banks The Player of Games (1988)

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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.