# Quote — Iain M. Banks, The Hydrogen Sonata

> “I have buffed and polished my medals for decades of steady, dedicated watchfulness,” the marshal continued, clasping her hands behind her head as she leaned back and relaxed, legs crossed, “counted and re-counted my medals for outstanding work in simulations and exercises, carefully rearranged my medals for heroic bravery under virtual fire, and even found room for my many, many medals for exemplary valour in the face of fellow officers coveting the same promotions as I.”

- Author: [Iain M. Banks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks.md)
- Book: [The Hydrogen Sonata](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata.md)
- Page: 443
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#The_Hydrogen_Sonata_(2013)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata/i-have-buffed

## More from this book

> Ah, dear. How fine the line is between acceptably defiant bravado and hopelessly delusional boasting.

p. 361 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata/ah-dear-how.md)

> ~My full name is the Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath. Cool, eh?

p. 502 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata/my-full-name.md)

> “Have you always been so suspicious, Banstegeyn?”
>
> He looked at her, unsmiling. “No, I stumbled into a position of great power quite by accident.”

p. 443 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata/have-you-always.md)