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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

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John Banville
Age: 78
Born: 1945
Born: December 8
Journalist
Literary Critic
Novelist
Playwright
Screenwriter
Writer
Benjamin Black
William John Banville
People
Thought
Naturally
Wanted
Name
Annoy
Firsts
Heard
Announce
First
Names
Chairman
Many
Moment
Jury
Even
Hate
Occurred
Think
Moments
Arrogant
Thinking
Night
Annoying

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...being alone with him was like being in a room which someone had just violently left
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I've always been fascinated by physics and cosmology. It gets more and more scary the older you get.
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I live in Dublin, God knows why. There are greatly more congenial places I could have settled in - Italy, France, Manhattan - but I like the climate here, and Irish light seems to be essential for me and for my writing.
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I never went to university. I'm self-educated. I didn't go because I was too impatient, too arrogant.
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The trouble with you, Vic, he said, is that you think of the world as a sort of huge museum with too many visitors allowed in.
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