More from Iain Banks
- The Hydrogen Sonata (2013), Chapter 7 (p. 127)
- Feersum Endjinn (1994), Chapter 9, Section 2 (p. 265)
Beauty is something that disappears when you try to define it.
The State of the Art (1991), “State of the Art” (p. 128)
People/Iain Banks/Quote

Reason shapes the future, but superstition infects the present.
The State of the Art (1991), “Piece” (p. 75)
Quote and source from Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0
Beauty is something that disappears when you try to define it.