218 Quotes by Iain Banks

I love writing and can’t imagine not being able to do it. I want an easy life and if it had been difficult I wouldn’t be doing it. I do admire writers who do it even though it costs them.

If you have any helpful suggestions I’d be pleased to hear them. If all you can do is make snide insinuations then it would probably benefit all concerned if you bestowed the fruits of your prodigious wit on someone with the spare time to give them the consideration they doubtless deserve.

He would never forget the feeling of that first year, the sense of freedom just being on his own gave him. He had his own room for the first time, his own money to spend as he wanted, his own food to buy and places to go and decisions to make; it was glorious, sublime.

The madder people. A lot of them seem to be leaders of countries or religions or armies. The real loonies.

What is all your studying worth, all your learning, all your knowledge, if it doesn’t lead to wisdom? And what’s wisdom but knowing what is right, and what is the right thing to do?

Hair on a man’s head is like the opposite of salt in a dish; you can take it away but you can’t add it in.

What’s one more meaningless act of violence on that zoo of a planet? It would be appropriate. When in Rome; burn it.

I remember being shocked when I discovered some of my school pals didn’t have books in their homes. I thought it was like not having oxygen, or hot water.

Yes of course I know it’s all a dream. Isn’t everything?