“Jenny Fields felt undone, the way only a person who has been careful can feel when confronted by a mistake.” — John Irving Failure Copy Share Image
“Of course, apologies are rarely acceptable to true believers - or to anyone who believes in *pure* good, or in pure evil.” — John Irving Apologies Copy Share Image
“I'll tell you what's wrong with dumb-shit patriotism--it's delusional! It signifies nothing but the American need to win” — John Irving Copy Share Image
When I love a novel I've read, I want to reread it - in part, to see how it was constructed. — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“I TRUST THAT GOD WILL HELP ME, BECAUSE WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO DO LOOKS VERY HARD.” — John Irving Faith Copy Share Image
“people can’t, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents.” — John Irving Child Copy Share Image
“Like any good novel, it lulled him into an almost tranquil state of awareness before it jolted him - it caught him… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“It was from just a few sentences that a writer learned anything from another writer.” — John Irving Learning Copy Share Image
Is it a democratic society that condemns people to the accident of conception? What are we-monkeys? If you expect people to be… — John Irving Accidents Copy Share Image
I will tell you what is my overriding perception of the last twenty years: that we are a civilization careening toward a… — John Irving Civilization Copy Share Image
We don't always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly--as if out… — John Irving Choice Copy Share Image
“It was not the cold that made you want to rush out as soon as you'd jumped in; it was the unmeasured… — John Irving Fear Copy Share Image
“You've witnessed what you c-c-c-call a miracle and now you believe-you believe everything," Pastor Merrill said. "But miracles don't c-c-c-cause belief-real miracles… — John Irving Faith 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… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“For a terrible time of life a teen-ager deceives himself; he believes he can trick the world. He believes he is invulnerable.… — John Irving Adolescence Copy Share Image
I have a friend who says that reviewers are the tickbirds of the literary rhinoceros-but he is being kind. Tickbirds perform a… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“had no idea that Mr. Meany was capable of such precise craftsmanship. I’d also had no idea that Mr. Meany was familiar… — John Irving Gravestone Copy Share Image
“Franny’s Hollywood name, her acting name, is one you know. This is our family’s story, and it’s inappropriate for me to use… — John Irving Family Copy Share Image
“LAST NITE I HAD A DREAM. NOW I KNOW FOUR THINGS. I KNOW THAT MY VOICE DOESN’T CHANGE – BUT I STILL… — John Irving Dream Copy Share Image
“But the available light in Twisted River was dim and growing dimmer. The dance-hall door blew (or was slammed) closed, cutting off… — John Irving Money Copy Share Image
“It was not necessarily what Ketchum might have said about the war in Iraq, or the never-ending mess in the Middle East,… — John Irving Middle east Copy Share Image
“he had seen his share of heroes, too. Major Rawls never knew everything that Owen had known; the major knew only that… — John Irving Owen Meany Copy Share Image
“He felt the pregnant woman squeeze his hand so hard that it hurt. The word ‘Mother!’ was strangely on his lips when… — John Irving Mother Copy Share Image
“who are always right, and are given to reminding us of it, are irritating; prophets are irritating, and Owen Meany is decidedly… — John Irving Best friend Copy Share Image
There are always suicides among people who are unable to say what they mean. — John Irving Copy Share Image
Gender mattered a whole lot less to Shakespeare than it seems to matter to us. — John Irving Gender Copy Share Image
