Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Ian M. Banks

Quote by Ian M. Banks

“There was also the Argument of Increasing Decency, which basically held that cruelty was linked to stupidity and that the link between intelligence, imagination, empathy and good-behaviour-as-it-was-generally-understood – i.e. not being cruel to others – was as profound as these matters ever got.”

Quote by Ian M. Banks

Create image

Author

Ian M. Banks

Browse famous quotes and profile details for Ian M. Banks. more

You May Also Like

“We believe some people are more special, more beautiful, more capable, more influential, more intelligent, more gifted, and have a greater capacity for good than others, often based on material possessions and outer appearances. At the root, that is why we are engaged in a struggle now in the Congress led by one group of people who truly believes their role is to defend the privileges of the elite. They defend tax breaks for the rich and ask for trillions in cuts to the safety nets that protect the middle class, the elderly, the sick, and the poor, because, in essence, they believe one group is more important than the other, more deserving than the other, and one contributes more good than the other. This is actually an illusion that is blind to the interdependence of the entire creation, which unites the weak with the strong, the privileged with the poor, and the ugly with the beautiful. All the inequities of our world are basically attempts to actualize this erroneous belief. And that is why there is turmoil, because we are in conflict with the truth, working to manifest an idea that is false.”

TruthGoodnessPrivilegeEqualityElitesInterdependenceInequities
Book:Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America
Create image

“No, I'd better not speak of it. It's a secret for me alone, of vital importance for me, and not to be put into words. This new feeling has not changed me, has not made me happy and enlightened all of a sudden as I dreamed. Just like the feeling for my child, there was no surprise in this either. Faith—or not faith—I don't know what it is—but this feeling has come just as imperceptibly through suffering, and has taken firm root in my soul. I shall go on in the same way, losing my temper with Ivan the coachman, falling into angry discussions, expressing my opinions tactlessly. There will be still the same wall between the holy of holies of my soul and other people, even my wife. I shall still go on scolding her for my own terror, and being remorseful for it. I shall still be as unable to understand with my reason why I pray, and I shall still go on praying. But my life now—my whole life apart from anything that can happen to me—every minute of it—is no more meaningless as it was before, but has the positive meaning of goodness, which I have the power to put into it.”

LifeHappinessReligionFaithSpiritualityPsychologyGoodnessEnlightenmentLogicMeaning Of Life
Book:ANNA KARENINA
Create image

“I'm reminded of a conversation between a little girl and her mother as they walked out of church. The mother asked her how she liked church that day. The girl replied that she thought it was good, but that she was a little confused. "The pastor said that God was bigger than we are. Is that true?" she asked. The mother responded that it was indeed true. "He also said that God lives inside of us. Is that true, Mommy?" Again the mother replied, "Yes." "Well, then," said the girl, "if God is bigger than us, and if He lives inside of us, then shouldn't some of Him show through?”

GodGoodnessService
Book:Dancin' Toward the Dawn: Discovering Joy in the Darkness of Loneliness
Create image

“I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves - such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals that have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face live cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness and Beauty. -Albert Einstein”

TruthHappinessBeautyCourageGoodnessIdealsEaseLiveCheerHygge
Book:The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Living Well
Create image