“You can't possibly know that you're going to be a writer!" Miss Frost said. "It's not a career choice.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting. I wouldn't say I have… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Know the story before you fall in love with your first sentence. If you don’t know the story before you begin the… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I am not attracted to writers by style. What style do Dickens, Grass, and Vonnegut have in common? How silly! I am… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Sigmund Freud was a novelist with a scientific background. He just didn’t know he was a novelist. All those damn psychiatrists after… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I write the last line, and then I write the line before that. I find myself writing backwards for a while, until… — 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
When I was still in prep school - 14, 15 - I started keeping notebooks, journals. I started writing, almost like landscape… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I don't read anything electronically. I don't write electronically, either - except e-mails to my family and friends. I write in longhand.… — 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
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
I think the sport of wrestling, which I became involved with at the age of 14... I competed until I was 34,… — 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
I thought some of the stories were neat; I liked some of the liturgy and some of the songs. If you're a… — 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)
