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We always want more, he thought, we always take our past successes for granted and assume they point the way to future triumphs. But the universe does not have our own best interests at heart, and to assume for a moment that it does, ever did or ever might is to make the most calamitous and hubristic of mistakes.

— Iain Banks Look to Windward (2000)

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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.