John Banville

Novelist; winner of the Booker Prize, 2005

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
Anyway, what’s the point of a plot, you know? Has life got a plot? Not that I know of. So why should a novel have a plot? But it has to have some kind of story. It has to have some kind of structure.

Academy of Achievement interview, 18 October 2017 source ↗

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Lisa Su Chair and chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices
Technology itself does not decide what the future looks like.
Recorded MIT OneMIT Commencement, MIT News, 28 May 2026 source ↗
Rahul Dravid India Test and one-day international cricketer, 1996–2012; later India head coach
One of the biggest challenges that the game must respond to today, I believe, is charting out a clear road map for the three formats. We now realise that the sport's three formats cannot be played in equal numbers - that will only throw scheduling and the true development of players completely off gear.
Recorded Bradman Oration, Anzac Hall, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ESPNcricinfo, 14 December 2011 source ↗
Muhammad Yunus Founder of Grameen Bank; Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 2006
To me poor people are like bonsai trees. When you plant the best seed of the tallest tree in a flower-pot, you get a replica of the tallest tree, only inches tall. There is nothing wrong with the seed you planted, only the soil-base that is too inadequate. Poor people are bonsai people. There is nothing wrong in their seeds. Simply, society never gave them the base to grow on.
Recorded Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2006 source ↗
Dan Pallotta Founder of Pallotta TeamWorks; founder of the Charity Defense Council
Now, this ideology gets policed by this one very dangerous question, which is, "What percentage of my donation goes to the cause versus overhead?" There are a lot of problems with this question. I'm going to just focus on two. First, it makes us think that overhead is a negative, that it is somehow not part of the cause. But it absolutely is, especially if it's being used for growth.
Recorded TED2013, 1 March 2013 source ↗

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Question How does a new piece of work usually begin for you? Craft & work
I think it begins as a kind of tension in space.  There’s something out there and it’s waiting for the big bang, and I have to get that into my head.  I have a composer friend in Ireland, and he beautifully said, “I have this scream in my head and I have to get it into the orchestra.  I have to get it into the music.”  But I wouldn’t be quite as dramatic as that.  But I have this tension.  I have this thing that has to be done. And the problem is, you see, once you’ve got the first paragraph down and you’ve got the tone, then the bloody book is written.  All you have to do is fill it in then, which makes it really boring.  I mean I’d like to be like one of those Japanese artists, you know, just go shoop ! and it’s done.  But no, it takes years.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 2017 source ↗

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