“The only sin is selfishness.”
Prologue (p. 1; opening words)
Culture series, Inversions (1998)
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Iain Banks 139
Scottish writer 1954–2013Related quotes

“I only appear selfish to a saint.”
Ron English's Fauxlosophy: Volume 2 (2022)

“The only sin is the sin of being born.”
As quoted in "Samuel Beckett Talks About Beckett" by John Gruen, in Vogue, (December 1969), p. 210
Comparable to "The tragic figure represents the expiation of original sin, of the original and eternal sin of him and all his 'soci malorum,' the sin of having been born. 'Pues el delito mayor / Del hombre es haber nacido.'" from his essay Proust, quoting Pedro Calderón de la Barca's La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream).

“Courtesy is only a thin veneer on the general selfishness.”
La politesse cache très-imparfaitement l’égoïsme général.
Part I, ch. VII.
Letters of Two Brides (1841-1842)

“Very usually, altruism is only the sublimest form of selfishness.”
Thoughts and Aphorisms (1913), Karma
"The Tucson Zoo", p. 10
The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher (1979)
Context: Everyone says, stay away from ants. They have no lessons for us; they are crazy little instruments, inhuman, incapable of controlling themselves, lacking manners, lacking souls. When they are massed together, all touching, exchanging bits of information held in their jaws like memoranda, they become a single animal. Look out for that. It is a debasement, a loss of individuality, a violation of human nature, an unnatural act.
Sometimes people argue this point of view seriously and with deep thought. Be individuals, solitary and selfish, is the message. Altruism, a jargon word for what used to be called love, is worse than weakness, it is sin, a violation of nature. Be separate. Do not be a social animal. But this is a hard argument to make convincingly when you have to depend on language to make it. You have to print out leaflets or publish books and get them bought and sent around, you have to turn up on television and catch the attention of millions of other human beings all at once, and then you have to say to all of them, all at once, all collected and paying attention: be solitary; do not depend on each other. You can’t do this and keep a straight face.
“Only you could love such a vile, selfish peacock, Evie.”
Source: Devil in Winter

“Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense.”