Iain Banks

It's easy to believe in something when you win all the time...The losses are what define a man's faith.

We are all falling. This hand's falling too— all have this falling-sickness none withstands. I want now to describe my body falling — though it seems unfair, to do this to mein the very grip of fear I am describing fear. But if you have ever lived through this — the sheer, absolute, biting-cold terror of utter helplessness that I feel even as I write this down — you will understand how difficult it is to separate the two; how can I describe fear except in terms of itself?

Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is.

People who count their chickens before they are hatched, act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it's impossible to count them accurately.

You can't actually write a book and say 'I'm writing a book' on every page, can you? It's not a book then, it's a book about writing a book!

I had a dream about you. You were standing on a rock overlooking a wide expanse of heather, and I said, 'I want to be with you forever.' And you turned to me and said, 'I want to be with you forever, too.'

The best way to avoid disappointment is to not hope for anything.

It's amazing how much drink you can get into a glass before it overflows.

I was a stupid, selfish, ignorant and unfeeling bastard, but at least I was happy.

There was a moment, a terrible moment, when I thought I was going to lose you. I thought I had already lost you.

We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made.

I looked at her face and she looked like a woman who had made a mistake and was trying to pretend she hadn't.