"All our lives are symbols. Everything we do is part of a pattern we have at least some say in. The strong make their own patterns and influence other people's, the weak have their courses mapped out for them." (Iain Banks, "The Wasp Factory", 1984)
"All reality is a game. Physics at its most fundamental, the very fabric of our universe, results directly from the interaction of certain fairly simple rules, and chance; the same description may be applied to the best, most elegant and both intellectually and aesthetically satisfying games. By being unknowable, by resulting from events which, at the sub-atomic level, cannot be fully predicted, the future remains malleable, and retains the possibility of change, the hope of coming to prevail; victory, to use an unfashionable word. In this, the future is a game; time is one of its rules." (Iain Banks, "The Player of Games", 1988)
"The very first-rank games acknowledge the element of chance,
even if they rightly restrict raw luck."
"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?" (Iain Banks, "Use of Weapons", 1990)
"You need to read more science fiction. Nobody who reads science fiction comes out with this crap about the end of history." (Iain Banks, "The Steep Approach to Garbadale", 2007)
"All you ever were was a little bit of the universe, thinking to itself. Very specific; this bit, here, right now. All the rest was fantasy." (Iain Banks, "Surface Detail", 2010)
"One should never mistake pattern for meaning." (Iain Banks, "The Hydrogen Sonata", 2012)
No comments:
Post a Comment