Use of Weapons (Culture, #3)

by Iain M. Banks

Everything was metaphor; all things were something other than themselves.

Was he dead? He thought about this question for a while. He supposed it was possible. Maybe there was an afterlife, after all. Well, if there was life after death, that would teach him.

“people die; stars die; universes die. What is any achievement, however great it was, once time itself is dead?

The fact a machine could have done it faster doesn’t alter the fact that it was you who actually did it.”

“I just think people overvalue argument because they like to hear themselves talk.”