# Quote — Iain M. Banks, Transition

> The old and powerful never want to let go. They always think they’re both profoundly indispensable and uniquely right. They are always wrong. Part of the function of ageing and dying is to let the next generation have its say, its time in the sun, to sweep away the mistakes of the previous age while, if they’re lucky, retaining the advances made and the benefits accrued.

- Author: [Iain M. Banks](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks.md)
- Book: [Transition](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/transition.md)
- Page: 331
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#Transition_(2009)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/transition/the-old-and

## More from this book

> It’s even more important to prosecute police who’ve broken the law than it is to prosecute anybody else, because otherwise nobody trusts the police.

p. 266 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/transition/its-even-more.md)

> I only tell them that because that’s what they like to hear, what they want to hear. That’s one of the lessons I’ve learned, isn’t it? You can go a long way just telling people what they want to hear. Of course, you got to be careful, and you got to choose the right people, but still, know that I mean?

p. 16 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/transition/i-only-tell.md)

> One of the wisest things anybody ever said to me was that if all you ever care about is money, money is all that will ever care for you.

p. 65 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/transition/one-of-the.md)