“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 assembling these extraordinary strings of words is a marvelous thing. I couldn’t ask for anything better. It as near to godliness as I can get. The great thrill is when a sentence that starts out being completely plain suddenly begins to sing, rising far above itself and above any expectation I might have had for it.” ~ John Banville