I had been a student in Vienna, and one of the neat little things I had found out was about that zoo.… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Because of A Prayer for Owen Meany, many of my readers assume I am “religious.” I go to church only occasionally—like a… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Life," Garp wrote, "is sadly not structured like a good old-fashioned novel. Instead an end occurs when those who are meant to… — 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
“while we waited to see what God would do. I heard a tear fall—it was one of my grandmother’s tears, and I… — John Irving 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 Copy Share Image
The characters in my novels, from the very first one, are always on some quixotic effort of attempting to control something that… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Titles are important; I have them before I have books that belong to them. I have last chapters in my mind before… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I don't begin a novel until I have written, not just the last sentence, but usually, as a result thereof, many of… — John Irving Copy Share Image
In a school community, someone who reads a book for some secretive purpose, other than discussing it, is strange. What was she… — John Irving 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 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 Copy Share Image
I believe that, in any novel of mine, the principal objective is the construction of the whole. — John Irving Copy Share Image
You don't want to be ungenerous toward people who give you prizes, but it is never the social or political message that… — John Irving Copy Share Image
A novel is a piece of architecture. It's not random wallowings or confessional diaries. It's a building-it has to have walls and… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Wherever Melony went, she would not be without guidance, she would not be without love, without faith; she had a good book… — John Irving Copy Share Image
It's magical thinking to imagine that the reason unspeakable things are being perpetrated by younger and younger people is that they've fallen… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I find screenplays easy to write, my novels being very visual. You see what people look like. The physical action is described. — John Irving Copy Share Image
I never know when I finish the novel I am writing which will be the next novel out of the station. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“I must part with you for my whole life," she read, with horror. "I must begin a new existence amongst strange faces… — John Irving 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
I grew up around books - my grandmother's house, where I lived as a small child, was full of books. My father… — 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 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
“Novels were not arguments; a story worked, or it didn't, on its own merits. What did it matter if a detail was… — 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 Image
… 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 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
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
