The unspoken factor is love. The reason I can work so hard at my writing is that it's not work for me. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“He felt fortunate to be with Helen; she had her own ambitions and he could not manipulate here.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
Ambition robs you of your childhood. The moment you want to become an adult—in any way—something in your childhood dies. — John Irving Adolescence Copy Share Image
A part of adolescence is feelimg that there's no one else around who's enough like youself to understand you. — John Irving Adolescence Copy Share Image
Don't forget this, too: Rumors aren't interested in the unsensational story; rumors don't care what's true. — John Irving Care Copy Share Image
Newspapers are even worse for me than ice cream; headlines, and the big issues that generate the headlines, are pure fat. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“There's nothing so confusing as finding out that you don't know someone you thought you knew.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
Half my life is an act of revision; more than half the act is performed with small changes. — John Irving Copy Share Image
In this world,” Franny once observed, “just as you’re trying to think of yourself as memorable, there is always someone who forgets… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Ever since the Christmas of '53, I have felt that the yuletide is a special hell for those families who have suffered… — John Irving Christmas Copy Share Image
Grant us safe lodging, and holy rest,” Mrs. Grogan was saying, “and peace at last.” Amen, thought Wilbur Larch, the Saint of… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“There were those apres-sex moments when, in a half-asleep or forgetting that I was with a woman, I would reach out and… — John Irving Time Copy Share Image
“Your disapproval is noted. It is legitimate. You are welcome to disapprove. But you are not welcome to be ignorant, to look… — John Irving Disapproval Copy Share Image
I don't think I've had a very interesting life, and I feel that is a great liberation. That gives me great freedom… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“This mannerism of what he'd seen of society struck Homer Wells quite forcefully; people, even nice people—because, surely, Wally was nice—would say… — John Irving Criticism Copy Share Image
If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one. But we are a country - USA - that likes to… — John Irving Abortion Copy Share Image
“THAT'S WHAT POWERFUL MEN DO TO THIS COUNTRY - IT'S A BEAUTIFUL, SEXY, BREATHLESS COUNTRY, AND POWERFUL MEN USE IT TO TREAT… — John Irving Power Copy Share Image
There was no manifestation of contemporary culture that did not indicate to my grandmother how steadfast was the nation's decline, how merciless… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“What I saw in Washington that October were a lot of Americans who were genuinely dismayed by what their country was doing… — John Irving Armed forces Copy Share Image
“Dan would entertain Owen and me by describing Mr. Tubulari’s pentathlon, his “winterthon.” “The first event,” Dan Needham said, “is something wholesome,… — John Irving Frozen lake Copy Share Image
“Ronkers was getting out of the elevator on the first floor when the intercom paged 'Dr Heart'. There was no Dr Heart… — John Irving Humor Copy Share Image
“Unlike Alice, Garp was a real writer —not because he wrote more beautifully than she wrote but because he knew what every… — John Irving Writing Copy Share Image
Before I began The Cider House Rules, I thought I wanted to write about a father-son relationship that was closer, more conflicted,… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“As for my faith: I've become my father's son-that is, I've become the kind of believer that Pastor Merrill used to be.… — John Irving Believer Copy Share Image
“Men who believe in good and evil, and who believe that good should win, should watch for those moments when it is… — John Irving God Copy Share Image
Children are most impressed with the importance of a moment when they witness a parent breaking the parents' own rule. — John Irving Child Copy Share Image
What a phrase that is: 'that explains everything!' I know better than to think anything 'explains everything' today. — John Irving Copy Share Image
To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We were just a family. In a family… — John Irving Bread Copy Share Image
“No matter what my fucking last words were, please say they were these: 'I have always known that the pursuit of excellence… — John Irving Death Copy Share Image
“Mr. Merrill was most appealing because he reassured us that doubt was the essence of faith, and not faith’s opposite.” — John Irving Faith Copy Share Image
I'm a very old-fashioned novelist. I write 19th-century novels, where a lot of rules apply. — John Irving Copy Share Image
I certainly think Obama is the most hopeful president I've seen in the country since John Kennedy. — John Irving Copy Share Image
You can give yourself a headache trying to decipher the tattoos on a naked man who’s leaping up and down on a… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I've always preferred writing in longhand. I've always written first drafts in longhand. — John Irving Copy Share Image
If I had to be anything," he told her, "I'd probably be a socialist, but I don't want to be anything. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“We've been an empire in decline since I can remember," Ketchum said bluntly; he wasn't kidding. "We are a lost nation, Danny.… — John Irving America Copy Share Image
I think there is often a 'what if' proposition that gets me thinking about all my novels. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Why do you guys want to take all the mystery away? Isn't the mystery an exciting part of sex?” — John Irving Mystery Copy Share Image
“By '95 - in New York, alone - more Americans had died of AIDS than were killed in Vietnam.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
Whereas she wished more of the population were better educated, she also believed that education was largely wasted on the majority of… — John Irving Copy Share Image
