The gardener had a dread of small women; he'd always imagined them to have an anger disproportionate to their size. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“I realize that a writer's business is setting fire to Piggy Sneed-and trying to save him-again and again; forever.” — John Irving Business Copy Share Image
“Mr. Wiggin injected a kind of horror-movie element into the Christmas miracle; to the rector, every Bible story was-if properly understood-threatening.” — John Irving Miracle Copy Share Image
Almost everyone is dying to leave home, eventually; and almost everyone needs to. — John Irving Copy Share Image
I believe in rules of behavior, and I'm quite interested in stories about the consequences of breaking those rules. — John Irving Copy Share Image
If you asked me one day, I might say, "Well, sometimes I feel a little bit religious." If you asked me another… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“But Americans are not great historians, and so, for years—educated by my neighbor—I thought that sagamore was an Indian word for lake.” — John Irving History Copy Share Image
The excitement of anticipation was *almost* equal to the thrill of lovemaking ... — John Irving Adventure Copy Share Image
'Great Expectations' was an important novel in my adolescence. It was very much one of those emblematic novels that made me wish… — John Irving Adolescence Copy Share Image
“Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties." (Interview… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“If (a writer) has applied himself to an art for 15 or 20 years and they’ve gotten good at it, and they’re… — John Irving Art Copy Share Image
“in the hospital, Jenny Fields felt she was making up for lost time; she was discovering that people weren't much more mysterious,… — John Irving Heart Copy Share Image
“I had acquired an undeniable mystique - if only to the Bancroft butt-room boys. Don't forget: Miss Frost was an older woman,… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“And what were the rules at St. Cloud's? What were Larch's rules? Which rules did Dr. Larch observe, which ones did he… — John Irving Civilization Copy Share Image
“You know, it's not only writers who have this problem, but writers really, really have this problem; for us, a so-called train… — John Irving Train of thought Copy Share Image
You don't have to be in the habit of going to church to listen to such a literary minister; you don't have… — John Irving Believer Copy Share Image
“David Copperfield had a fever when he’d gone to bed, and Larch went to check on the boy. Dr. Larch was relieved… — John Irving Hot dogs Copy Share Image
Here is the trap you are in… And it's not my trap—I haven't trapped you. Because abortions are illegal, women who need… — John Irving Abortion Copy Share Image
When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Dr. Gingrich and Mrs. Goodhall had prevailed upon the board of trustees; the board had requested that Larch comply with Dr. Gingrich’s… — John Irving Success Copy Share Image
“A man named Hero washed the press cloths; Meany Hyde told Homer that the man had been a kind of hero, once.… — John Irving Hero Copy Share Image
I think that was when the headmaster realized he had lost; he realized then that he was finished. Because, what could he… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“These same people who tell us we must defend the lives of the unborn-they are the same people who seem not so… — John Irving Freedom of choice Copy Share Image
“YOUR BOREDOM IS YOUR PROBLEM," said Owen Meany. "IT'S YOUR LACK OF IMAGINATION THAT BORES YOU. HARDY HAS THE WORLD FIGURED OUT.… — John Irving Boredom Copy Share Image
“When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don''t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“…there was no better company for an especially personal revelation than the company of virtual strangers.” — John Irving Business 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 Book Copy Share Image
Adolescence-is it the first time in life we discover that we have something terrible to hide from those who love us? — John Irving Adolescence 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 Book Copy Share Image
I don't really set out to explore grand themes. I set out to tell a story. And one I have to be… — John Irving Copy Share Image
But who can distinguish between falling in love and imagining falling in love? Even genuinely falling in love is an act of… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“...not simple intolerance but the tolerance of intolerance, which allows the intolerance to persist.” — John Irving Tolerance Copy Share Image
I was brought up in a community, in a family that valued such things as good manners, and I still do. — John Irving Community Copy Share Image
The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET AMERICANS TO NOTICE ANYTHING IS TO TAX THEM OR DRAFT THEM OR KILL THEM,” Owen said.” — John Irving Americans Copy Share Image
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 Image
“Rural life in the winter months was rugged: snow-blurred and alcohol-fueled, violent and fast.” — John Irving Flower Copy Share Image
Whatever I write, no matter how gray or dark the subject matter, it's still going to be a comic novel. — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
You only grow by coming to the end of something and by beginning something else. — John Irving Beginning Copy Share Image
The former stewardess glared at her ex-pilot husband as if he had been speaking, and thinking, in the absence of sufficient oxygen. — John Irving Absence Copy Share Image
