# Quote — Iain M. Banks, Look To Windward

> We always want more, he thought, we always take our past successes for granted and assume they point the way to future triumphs. But the universe does not have our own best interests at heart, and to assume for a moment that it does, ever did or ever might is to make the most calamitous and hubristic of mistakes.

- Author: [Iain M. Banks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks.md)
- Book: [Look To Windward](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/look-to-windward.md)
- Page: 36
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Look_to_Windward_(2000)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/look-to-windward/we-always-want

## More from this book

> “You serious?”
>
> “I’m always serious, never more so than when I’m being flippant.”

p. 231 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/look-to-windward/you-serious-im-always.md)

> Believe me; democracy in action can be an unpretty sight.

p. 198 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/look-to-windward/believe-me-democracy.md)

> “Elated? Pleased?”
>
> “Those are the closest words. There is an undeniable elation in causing mayhem, in bringing about such massive destruction. As for feeling pleased, I felt pleasure that some of those who died did so because they were stupid enough to believe in gods or afterlives that do not exist, even though I felt a terrible sorrow for them as they died in their ignorance and thanks to their folly.”

p. 315 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/look-to-windward/elated-pleased-those.md)