Author

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.

From John Banville

I'd given up Catholicism in my teens but something of it stays with me. I try to create the perfect sentence - that's as close to godliness as I can get.

From John Banville

I'm a hopeless 19th-century romantic.

From John Banville

I sometimes think that I might be slightly autistic. There might be a syndrome that hasn't been named. I don't seem to see the world in the same way that most people I know see it. They don't seem to be baffled by it.

From John Banville

I know some of my memories are made up and they are far more powerful than the things that actually happened. For example, I always remember my brother posting me a copy of 'Dubliners' from Africa, but he says he never did.

From John Banville

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

From John Banville

Office life is very, very strange. It's like no other way of living. You have an intimacy with people who you work with in the office, yet if you meet them on the streets, you both look the other way because you're embarrassed.

From John Banville