Top 55 Quotes by John Banville

About John Banville

These are some quotes by Irish author John Banville Novelist, who was born on December 8, 1945.

When you're writing there's a deep, deep level of concentration way below your normal self. This strange voice, these strange sentences come out of you.

When you're writing there's a deep, deep level of concentration way below your normal self. This strange voice, these strange sentences come out of you.

John Banville

I'm full of self-doubt. I doubt everything I do. Everything I do is a failure.

I'm full of self-doubt. I doubt everything I do. Everything I do is a failure.

John Banville

Dostoevsky is such a bad writer it is hard to take him seriously as a novelist, though he is a wonderful philosopher.

Dostoevsky is such a bad writer it is hard to take him seriously as a novelist, though he is a wonderful philosopher.

John Banville

I read Nietzsche when I was a teenager and then I went back to reading him when I was in my thirties, and his voice spoke directly to me. Nietzsche is such a superb literary artist.

I read Nietzsche when I was a teenager and then I went back to reading him when I was in my thirties, and his voice spoke directly to me. Nietzsche is such a superb literary artist.

John Banville

I have this fantasy. I'm walking past a bookshop and I click my fingers and all my books go blank. So I can start again and get it right.

I have this fantasy. I'm walking past a bookshop and I click my fingers and all my books go blank. So I can start again and get it right.

John Banville

In my books you have to concentrate, but I work hard to make it that, when you do, the rewards are quite high.

In my books you have to concentrate, but I work hard to make it that, when you do, the rewards are quite high.

John Banville

I suppose it's possible that a writer would have feeling for his characters, but I can't see how, because writing is such a meticulous, intricate, technical business. I wish I could say that I love my characters and that frequently they take over the book and run away with the plot and so on. But they don't exist.

John Banville

For memory, we use our imagination. We take a few strands of real time and carry them with us, then like an oyster we create a pearl around them.

For memory, we use our imagination. We take a few strands of real time and carry them with us, then like an oyster we create a pearl around them.

John Banville

It's great people still care about books, and it's great you can still fashion a life from literature.

It's great people still care about books, and it's great you can still fashion a life from literature.

John Banville

I don't make a distinction between men and women. To me they are just people.

I don't make a distinction between men and women. To me they are just people.

John Banville

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