“I'm a little surprised that commercial success has arrived. I used to think that it was hopeless, that it would never happen.”

— John Banville

Once More Admired Than Bought, A Writer Finally Basks in Success (1990)

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John Banville 97

Irish writer 1945

Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician

You interview (2006)

“I never really cared about achieving commercial success.”

Juliana Hatfield (1967) American guitarist/singer-songwriter and author

Interview by Matt Ryan for MAGNET magazine http://www.magnetmagazine.com/interviews/hatfield.html
Context: I never really cared about achieving commercial success. As soon as I was signed to a record company, I felt like I made it because I was able to quit my day job. To me, success was just not having to have a boss and not having a day job. So I’ve been living my own version of success since the early ’90s when I first got signed and I haven’t had a job since then. I’m pretty happy about that. When I did have a little bit of commercial success, it really didn’t suit my temperament at all. I’m a terrible public person. I’m happier where I am now.

“The use of quantity of money as a target has not been a success. I'm not sure that I would as of today push it as hard as I once did.”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

Financial Times [UK] (7 June 2003)

“A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

“NEVER be surprised by your own success!”

Steve Maraboli (1975)

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 25

“This is not the way it has been done. We would never surprise each other … It's not to say that there's not important information that we could discuss or would be discussed in secret or closed session, but I'm astounded by this. I don't really know what the tenor of this is, what is the justification for it and why this extreme approach was used.”

Trent Lott (1941) United States Senator from Mississippi

On the closure of the Senate to discuss intelligence leading up to the war in Iraq (1 November 2005), as quoted in The Associated Press (1 November 2005).
2000s

“I think that it would do us good to have some tension […]. From this weekend, I'm going to start to overdramatise things a little.”

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (1960) Former Prime Minister of Spain

Said to the presenter of 'Cuatro', Iñaki Gabilondo, at the end of an interview, and referring to the 2008 general election. His words were captured by microphones when Zapatero presumed that he was no longer on air.
As President, 2008
Source: "A partir de este fin de semana, voy a dramatizar un poco" http://www.publico.es/048875/a/partir/semana/dramatizar/poco: