5 quotes
The world is a dark place, and I find it endlessly funny.
John Banville, The Art of Fiction No. 200 (2009)
Copernicus stuck very closely to the facts, but in Kepler I invented freely, and it's a much better book because of that.
John Banville, The Art of Fiction No. 200 (2009)
Doing what you do well is death. Your duty is to keep trying to do things that you don't do well, in the hope of learning.
John Banville, The Art of Fiction No. 200 (2009)
After all, who knows what the distant past was like? About Kepler and Copernicus, people often say, You captured the period so well! I always want to ask, How do you know? You weren't there either.
John Banville, The Art of Fiction No. 200 (2009)
The first thought that occurred to me, that night when I heard the chairman of the jury announce my name, was, Just think how many people hate me at this moment. Naturally, I wanted to annoy those people even further by being arrogant.
John Banville, The Art of Fiction No. 200 (2009)