“The effect of prizes on one's career - if that is what to call it - is...” — John Banville Quote

“The effect of prizes on one's career - if that is what to call it - is considerable, since they give one more clout with publishers and more notoriety among journalists. The effect on one's writing, however, is nil - otherwise, one would be in deep trouble.”

“The novel is resilient, and so are novelists.”

“All art at a certain level is entertainment. We go to a tragedy by Sophocles to be entertained.”

“Email is a senior citizen. It's been around since at least the 1960s in one form or another. In the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a hot competition among consumer email services like Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Gmail.”

“I am aware that there was a general opinion among people that I was close to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, among other Left leaders. Yes, I was close to them because I had to work closely with the state government.”

“Throughout human history, the apostles of purity, those who have claimed to possess a total explanation, have wrought havoc among mere mixed-up human beings.”