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
Technology determines the possibilities of society. It doesnt matter whether you start out from a fascist state or a communist state or a free-market state. – Iain Banks
In so much of politics youre not allowed to disagree with whats been agreed. – Iain Banks
A lot of what the Culture is about is a reaction to all the science fiction I was reading in my very early teens. – Iain Banks
Two little girls, on their way home from Sunday school, were solemnly discussing the lesson. “Do you believe there is a devil?” asked one. “No,” said the other promptly. “It’s like Santa Claus: it’s your father.” – Nebelspalter (Zurich, Switzerland), quoted in The Literary Digest, Vol.106, 1930