And when you love a book, commit one glorious sentence of it-perhaps your favorite sentence-to memory. That way you won't forget the… — John Irving Copy Share Image
He was too young to know that, in any novel with a reasonable amount of forethought, there were no coincidences. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“A novel is always more complicated than it seems at the beginning. Indeed a novel should be more complicated than it seems… — John Irving Copy Share Image
When writing a novel, I'm not smart enough to know how to foreshadow something if I don't know what it is. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“I must part with you for my whole life," she read, with horror. "I must begin a new existence amongst strange faces… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I grew up around books - my grandmother's house, where I lived as a small child, was full of books. My father… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“There’s nothing I need or want to know from the writers I admire that isn’t in their books. It’s better to read… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I sometimes think that what I do as a writer is make a kind of colouring book, where all the lines are… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I believe in plot, in development of character, in the effect of the passage of time, in a good story - better… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Grown-ups shouldn’t finish books they’re not enjoying. When you’re no longer a child, and you no longer live at home, you don’t… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You don't want to be ungenerous toward people who give you prizes, but it is never the social or political message that… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Life," Garp wrote, "is sadly not structured like a good old-fashioned novel. Instead an end occurs when those who are meant to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I've always been a fan of the 19th century novel, of the novel that is plotted, character-driven, and where the passage of… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The concept of writing a novel and not knowing where it's going - I don't know how to do that. Novels are… — John Irving Copy Share Image
My first attraction to writing novels was the plot, that almost extinct animal. Those novels I read which made me want to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
So, you see, it's a real chore for me to write a book review because it's like a contest. It's like I'm… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
A novel is a piece of architecture. It's not random wallowings or confessional diaries. It's a building-it has to have walls and… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I find screenplays easy to write, my novels being very visual. You see what people look like. The physical action is described. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Wherever Melony went, she would not be without guidance, she would not be without love, without faith; she had a good book… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Good night you Kings of New England. You Princes of Maine." Who knows what book this quote comes from?” — John Irving Copy Share Image
'The Fourth Hand' was a novel that came from twenty years of screenwriting concurrently with whatever novel I'm writing. — John Irving Copy Share Image
I suppose I'm proudest of my novels for what's imagined in them. I think the world of my imagination is a richer… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“If you're a writer, the problem is that, when you try to call a halt to thinking about your novel-in-progress, your imagination… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I have no respect for the right-to-life position, though I have every respect for an individual who says, "I could never have… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I had been a student in Vienna, and one of the neat little things I had found out was about that zoo.… — John Irving Copy Share Image
And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence until all the important connections in the… — John Irving Copy Share Image
For most of my life, when I've finished the book I'm writing, there've always been as many as two or three other… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“It was Owen Meany who taught me that any good book is always in motion—from the general to the specific, from the… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You don't want to dwell on your enemies, you know. I basically feel so superior to my critics for the simple reason… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The characters in my novels, from the very first one, are always on some quixotic effort of attempting to control something that… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from… — John Irving Copy Share
… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life. — John Irving Copy Share
Watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean––make sure they know what they mean! — John Irving Copy Share
The desire to never leave your side, the desire to never see you again. The desire to see your face asleep on the pillow… — John Irving Copy Share
I had been a student in Vienna, and one of the neat little things I had found out was about that zoo. It was… — John Irving Copy Share
“God, I think I just hit a high E-flat - and I really held it!" Esmeralda said, after one of her more prolonged orgasms,… — John Irving Copy Share
“Nostalgia!" Miss Frost cried. "You´re nostalgic!" She repeated. "Just how old are you, William?" She asked. "Seventeen, " I told her. "Seventeen!" Miss Frost… — John Irving Copy Share
“JUST BECAUSE A BUNCH OF ATHEISTS ARE BETTER WRITERS THAN THE GUYS WHO WROTE THE BIBLE DOESN'T NECESSARILY MAKE THEM RIGHT!" [Owen Meany] said… — John Irving Copy Share
It is much easier to be flexible about where a story begins than it ever was for me to change my mind about where… — John Irving Copy Share
“Only the chicken-lover will understand me. He will give me a kindly look, maybe mildly desirous. His eyes will tell me: You might look… — John Irving Copy Share
You're nice,' Cushie told him, squeezing his hand. 'And you're my oldest friend.' But they both must have known that you can know someone… — John Irving Copy Share
“Because of A Prayer for Owen Meany, many of my readers assume I am “religious.” I go to church only occasionally—like a lot of… — John Irving Copy Share
“Did anyone who was in love and was unsatisfied with how he was loved in return ever feel saved?” — John Irving Copy Share
“I TRUST THAT GOD WILL HELP ME, BECAUSE WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO DO LOOKS VERY HARD.” — John Irving Copy Share
![“So, you see, it's a real chore for me to write a book review because it's like a contest. It's like I'm writing that book review for every bad book reviewer I've ever known and it's a way of saying [thrusts a middle finger into the air] this is how you ought to do it. I like to rub their noses in…” quote by John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/b5d/john-irving-337_air_so-you-see-it-s-a-real-chore-for-me-to-w_1152495.jpg)
