John Banville Quotes

I write in what we call Hiberno-English, and it would be disastrous to lose my literary accent, as both Joyce and Beckett began to do in exile. In their case the unique tone of voice they each unwittingly adopted only made for a deeper poetic intensity; I suspect if I were to undergo a similar loss the result would not be so productive.

John Banville

• English
• Unique

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Quotes to Explore

• Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • Friends
  • Friendship
  • Destroy

• Do not suffer pain and torment without reason. Somebody All-Powerful and All-Compassionate owns everything. Rely on His Power and do not accuse His Compassion. Renounce grief and anxiety ad accept relief. Be rid of your troubles and find serenity.

  

  Said Nursi
  • Power
  • Pain
  • Powerful

• I was too much of an innocent when I went to university.

  

  Naomie Harris
  • Innocent
  • Too Much
  • Too

• Sometimes when you're writing a song and that song comes into your head, it definitely comes from somewhere, like a real experience.

  

  Vance Joy
  • Writing
  • Real
  • Experience

• I think the best president - because he changed the whole mood of the country, the whole economy of the country, and stood up to Communism... that was continuing its causes around the world, and backed them off and caused them to collapse - and that was Ronald Reagan.

  

  Pat Boone
  • Up
  • World
  • Country

• I started wearing all black around the time I got into Nirvana. I first heard 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' when I was about 12, and I remember jumping on my bed, so excited about it.

  

  Natasha Lyonne
  • Time
  • Remember
  • Black

• Denial of childhood and denial of freedom are the biggest sins which humankind has been committing and perpetuating for ages.

  

  Kailash Satyarthi
  • Freedom
  • Childhood
  • Denial

• I'll tell you what's helped me my entire life. I look at baseball as a game. It's something where people can go out, enjoy and have fun. Nothing more.

  

  Harry Caray
  • People
  • Life
  • Fun

• I don't look like a desert person because I stay indoors most of the day and fool around at night. That's what the desert animals do - they don't have a tan either.

  

  Captain Beefheart
  • Night
  • Day
  • Fool

• One cannot plan for the unexpected.

  

  Aaron Klug
  • Plan
  • Cannot
  • Unexpected

• I still owe a duty of loyalty to my clients and former clients, so I cannot specify which clients I did not especially find congenial, but the cause was the same.

  

  Floyd Abrams
  • Find
  • Same
  • Loyalty

• The one thing I am now sure of is that if there is such a thing as destiny, it is a result of our passion, be that for money, power, or love. Passion, for better or worse.

  

  M. J. Rose
  • Money
  • Passion
  • Destiny

• Frankly speaking, it's only the script that matters to me the most. If I like the script, then I just commit to myself and go ahead with it. But I also look at the commitment and confidence of the director of the film because it's him who will shape the film.

  

  Vidya Balan
  • Film
  • Confidence
  • Commitment

• My first-ever car, my parents bought me a red Fiat Uno. I was 17 and just so happy to have a car, so I was very fortunate that my parents were in a position to get me one - it was a secondhand car, but I was just so happy to have it.

  

  Victoria Beckham Spice Girls
  • Happy
  • Parents
  • Car

• Intellectuals who live in Hungary, or who wish to work or lecture there, are extremely circumspect in their criticism.

  

  Hari Kunzru
  • Work
  • Live
  • Wish

• Kids in urban and rural areas face so many challenges, and they show up at schools that don't have the extra capacity or extra resources to meet their needs.

  

  Wendy Kopp
  • Up
  • Kids
  • Challenges

• I'm of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.

  

  Barbara Kingsolver
  • Mind
  • Path
  • Living

• It's like that Simpsons joke - they're filming a cow in a movie and they go, 'OK, we'll tape a bunch of cats together to make a cow', and it's like, 'Why don't you just use a cow?'. For some reason that is novel - like, 'Oh, my guitar sounds like a piano and now if I can just get my piano to sound like my guitar'.

  

  Ian Williams Battles
  • Why
  • Together
  • Movie

• Setting a good example for your children takes all the fun out of middle age.

  

  William Feather
  • Children
  • Fun
  • Mother

• The assistants, the managers, the PR, the person whose coordinating, the person in production - those are the people I loved communicating with and building network relationships with.

  

  Karen Civil
  • People

• It would no doubt be very sentimental to argue - but I would argue it nevertheless - that the peculiar combination of joy and sadness in bell music - both of clock chimes, and of change-ringing - is very typical of England. It is of a piece with the irony in which English people habitually address one another.

  

  A. N. Wilson
  • People
  • Music
  • Joy

• I grew up on a farm where we had one radio station and it was all country.

  

  Garrett Hedlund
  • Up
  • Country
  • Radio

• Is being single hard? It depends where your mind is. If you are focused, being single is an enjoyable experience, but if you hate being alone, you'll hate being single. I think it depends on the individual are where they are in life.

  

  Lauren London
  • Life
  • Mind
  • Experience

• I write in what we call Hiberno-English, and it would be disastrous to lose my literary accent, as both Joyce and Beckett began to do in exile. In their case the unique tone of voice they each unwittingly adopted only made for a deeper poetic intensity; I suspect if I were to undergo a similar loss the result would not be so productive.

  

  John Banville
  • English
  • Unique