“I'll bet every fucking one of your angels is going to be terrifying!” — John Irving Angel Copy Share Image
So, I don't work in terms of real time. I don't work in a timely fashion. — John Irving Fashion Copy Share Image
“Someone who hasn't read a novel doesn't really know what it's about, William.” — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
When you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion. — John Irving Belief Copy Share Image
YOU LET ME DROWN!” Owen said. “YOU DIDN’T DO ANYTHING! YOU JUST WATCHED ME DROWN! I’M ALREADY DEAD!” he told us. “REMEMBER… — 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 Book Copy Share Image
…there is no nakedness that compares to being naked in front of someone for the first time. — John Irving Copy Share Image
Lilly was not crazy. She left a serious suicide note. 'Sorry,' said the note. 'Just not big enough. — John Irving Copy Share Image
I'm not proselytizing my method. I don't believe that one writer should tell other writers how to write. — John Irving Copy Share Image
You take every opportunity given you in this world, even if you have too many opportunities. One day, the opportunities stop, you… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“What worse awareness is there than to know there would have been a better outcome if you'd never done anything at all?” — John Irving Awareness Copy Share Image
I think that writers are, at best, outsiders to the society they inhabit. They have a kind of detachment, or try to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You know, people think you have to be dumb to skip rope for 45 minutes. No, you have to be able to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Anybody can do research. The plotting of the novel, writing the ending before you write anything else, which I always do -… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I grew up without a father, who was kept a mystery to me. There was a sense of uprootedness, things being one… — John Irving Copy Share Image
With every book, you go back to school. You become a student. You become an investigative reporter. You spend a little time… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Moreover, there was what Amy called “the cocksuckers’ contingent of the country”—what Danny knew as the dumber-than-dog-shit element, those bully patriots—and they… — John Irving Patriotism Copy Share Image
“When I first came to Canada, I thought it was going to be easy to be a Canadian; like so many stupid… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“...one of the more sophisticated and accepting things about Europe, when it came to difficult decisions regarding sexual identity, was that the… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You can't say you're going to ban something in the name of good taste, because then you have directed someone to play… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You bet I write disaster fiction. We have compiled a disastrous record on this planet, a record of stupidity and absurdity and… — John Irving Absurdity Copy Share Image
“I met him in the language lab. In a lull between lab sections, I was editing tapes for freshman German when this… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“It surprised him that she was the one who looked stricken with fear, as if she were a prisoner in the passenger… — John Irving Fear Copy Share Image
It seems to me that people who don’t learn as easily as others suffer from a kind of learning disability—there is something… — John Irving Ability Copy Share Image
“But the penultimate paragraph of the novel is naturally the passage I wrote first. “When we held Owen Meany above our heads,… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“She was a passionate reader, and she thought that reading was one of the noblest efforts of all; in contrast, she found… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“When, if only for a moment, the novelist steps out of the creator's role, what roles are there for the novelist to… — John Irving Time Copy Share Image
“For Homer Wells, it was different. He did not imagine leaving St. Cloud's. The Princes of Maine that Homer saw, the Kings… — John Irving Copy Share Image
A personal injustice is stronger motivation than any instinct for philanthropy. — John Irving Injustice Copy Share Image
There are always suicides among people who are unable to say what they mean. — John Irving Copy Share Image
