Home > Work > The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture #10)
41 " I'm sure it varies across species - some seem to do quite well with no idea of love at all - but you soon enough come to realise that love generally comes from a need within ourselves, and that the behaviour, the... expression of love is what is most important to us, not the identity, not the personality of the one who is loved. "
― Iain M. Banks , The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture #10)
42 " So basically you're sticking around to watch us all fuck up ?""Yes. It's one of life's few guaranteed constants. "
43 " And in all of this, to what end?” “No end save itself: I pass the time to pass the time, and stay involved to stay involved.” “Yes, but why?” “Why not? "
44 " Yes, you should always tell the truth, unless you find yourself in a situation where it would be utter moral folly to do so. "
45 " Warm, Considering likes to think it is very protective of me.” QiRia drank from his glass. “It is very protective of me. But certain sorts of protection, even care, can shade into a sort of desire for ownership. Certainly into a feeling that what is being protected is an earned exclusivity of access for the protector, not the privacy of the protected.” He looked across at her. His eyes were the colour of the sea, she remembered. Dark now. “Do you understand? "
46 " Well, in the end, there was no helping this. Sometimes you just had to adopt the attitude summed up by, Too bad. "
47 " One should never mistake pattern… for meaning. "
48 " The usual bizarre bio-mix of who-knew-how-many planetary-original blood-lines, all tangled inextricably together with those from an equally unfathomable number of others, boosted with genetech, aug., dashes of chimeric and a hint of some machine in there too, depending.And it didn’t doubt that every single one of them would find it absolutely fascinating to stare into a fire, even if that was one thing they were unlikely ever to encounter on a ship. The urge would still be there, though; "