Writing keeps me at my desk, constantly trying to write a perfect sentence. It is a great privilege to make one's living from writing sentences. The sentence is the greatest invention of civilization. To sit all day long assembling these extraordinary strings of words is a marvelous thing. I couldn't ask for anything better. It's as near to godliness as I can get. ✨ John Banville, The Art of Fiction No. 200. Interview with Belinda McKeon, www.theparisreview.org. 2009.
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- To take possession of a city of which you are not a native you must first fall in love there. ✨ John Banville (2009). The Untouchable, p.31, Vintage
- The sentence is the greatest human invention of civilization.
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