Happiness was different in childhood. It was so much then a matter simply of accumulation, of taking things - new experiences, new emotions - and applying them like so many polished tiles to what would someday be the marvellously finished pavilion of the self.
John BanvilleIn my books you have to concentrate, but I work hard to make it that, when you do, the rewards are quite high.
John BanvilleThat's one of the many things I hate about life, that it's a hideously cliched business.
John BanvilleMost crime fiction, no matter how 'hard-boiled' or bloodily forensic, is essentially sentimental, for most crime writers are disappointed romantics.
John Banville