218 Quotes by Iain Banks

All I said was that I thought it was a judgement from God that Blyth had first lost his leg and then had the replacement become the instrument of his downfall. All because of the rabbits. Eric, who was going through a religious phase at the time which I suppose I was to some extent copying, thought this was a terrible thing to say; God wasn’t like that. I said the one I believed in was.

I’m an only child so am happy with my own company and I don’t really get lonely.

Even in my side of the world, I’ve been in publishing for what, 25 or 26 years, and it’s gone from being a gentlemen’s club to being a few big players, and it’s very corporatised.

Thinking what had happened over in my mind, trying to figure out the whys and wherefores, see what lessons were to be learned, what signs to be read in it all.

I just come up with the stories and write them as well as I can. There’s not really a great deal of strokey-beard thinking going on.

Probably the most blood came when I used a cheese grater on his knees.

I’m not a great believer in awards-of course the fact that I’ve never won one has nothing to do with it at all!

This is so much like the old days. And, again, I have mixed feelings. In some ways it’s good and comfortable to be fitting straight back in like I’ve never been away, but, on the other hand, I’m getting this constrictive feeling as well. It’s the same places – like the bars and pubs on Friday night – the same people, the same conversations, the same arguments and the same attitudes. Five years away and not much seems to have changed. I can’t decide if this is good or bad.

Escape is a consumer goods like another.