# Quote — Iain M. Banks, The Hydrogen Sonata

> “So,” she said, “living all this time has been to no purpose, basically.”
>
> “True, but that hardly distinguishes me from anybody else, does it?”
>
> “But shouldn’t it, or there’s no point?”
>
> “No. Living either never has any point, or is always its own point; being a naturally cheery soul, I lean toward the latter. However, just having done more of it than another person doesn’t really make much difference.”

- 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: 210
- 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/so-she-said

## 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)