I think a lot of people are frightened of technology and frightened of change, and the way to deal with something youre frightened of is to make fun of it. Thats why science fiction fans are dismissed as geeks and nerds. – Iain Banks
Torture is such a slippery slope as soon as you allow a society or any legal system to do that, almost instantly you get a situation where people are being tortured for very trivial reasons. – Iain Banks
My point has always been that, ever since the Industrial Revolution, science fiction has been the most important genre there is. – Iain Banks
In so much of politics youre not allowed to disagree with whats been agreed. – Iain Banks
The beginning of a friendship, the fact that two people out of the thousands around them can meet and connect and become friends, seems like a kind of magic to me. But maintaining a friendship requires work. I dont mean that as a bad thing. Good art requires work as well. – Charles de Lint