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

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There is a saying that we provide the machines with an end, and they provide us with the means.
~ Iain Banks

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Is your own existence so replete with equanimity you find no outlet for worry except on behalf of others?
~ Iain Banks

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You can draw the blinds in a brothel, but people still know what you’re doing.
~ Iain Banks

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Believe me; democracy in action can be an unpretty sight.
~ Iain Banks

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Reason shapes the future, but superstition infects the present.
~ Iain Banks

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Empathize with stupidity and you’re halfway to thinking like an idiot.
~ Iain Banks

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We only become beasts — we become worse than beasts — when we torment others.
~ Iain Banks

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