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d342801
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One should never mistake pattern for meaning.
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Iain Banks |
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ed9c54d
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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. The weak and the unlucky, and the stupid.
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Iain Banks |
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390db82
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It was the day my grandmother exploded.
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Iain Banks |
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a4e5fc7
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I switched the light out again. The room was totally dark, not even the starlight showing while my eyes adjusted. Perhaps I would ask for one of those LED alarm radios, though I'm very fond of my old brass alarm clock. Once I tied a wasp tot the striking-surface of each of the copper-coloured bells on top, where the little hammer would hit them in the morning when the alarm went off. I always wake up before the alarm goes, so I got to watc..
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murder
young
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Iain Banks |
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09f96f1
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I'm doing fine. I eat dogs! Heh heh heh!' I
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Iain Banks |
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8cefeb0
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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'..
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Iain Banks |
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dde6955
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There is a saying that we provide the machines with an end, and they provide us with the means.
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Iain Banks |
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25804ba
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Beauty is something that disappears when you try to define it.
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Iain Banks |
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f69be53
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Something in your voice tells me we approach the question of remuneration.
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Iain Banks |
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b47669c
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Empathize with stupidity and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot.
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Iain Banks |
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1dbc378
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I'm very sorry," the drone said, without a trace of contrition.
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Iain Banks |
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262937e
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What they had talked themselves into, they could be silent out of.
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Iain Banks |
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3bc0cbb
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There are no gods, we are told, so I must make my own salvation.
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Iain Banks |
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9fc1698
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You're a wicked man.""Thank you. It's taken years of diligent practice."
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Iain Banks |
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6978589
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The double-sun system was relatively poor in comets; there were only a hundred billion of them.
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Iain Banks |
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54b348c
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I am not being obtuse. You are being paranoid.
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Iain Banks |
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c2468b8
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People often behave badly when they are trying to prove a point.
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Iain Banks |
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b7c2d52
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We only become beasts--we become worse than beasts--when we torment others.
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Iain Banks |
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b0da9c4
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Perhaps my certainty is misplaced.
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Iain Banks |
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33b0611
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What, now?""Soon equates to good, later to worse, Uagen Zlepe, scholar. Therefore, immediacy."
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Iain Banks |
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5d5e0ce
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Believe me; democracy in action can be an unpretty sight.
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Iain Banks |
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4fb608b
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Oh. I didn't realise.""Then you're simply ignorant rather than malevolent. Congratulations."
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Iain Banks |
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d8e8299
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You serious?""I'm always serious, never more so than when I'm being flippant."
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Iain Banks |
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dae6695
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A good death. Well, he thought, given that you had to die, why want a bad one?
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Iain Banks |
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e3e0806
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Anyway," she said. "I'm sorry.""Indeed. I can see contrition oozing from your every pore."
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Iain Banks |
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6bccaf7
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Allow me to attenuate my portentousness for you.
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Iain Banks |
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9566f87
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Hope could be more painful than despair.
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Iain Banks |