She felt detached from her family, and thought it strange how they had lavished so much attention on her, as a child,… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Candy felt helpless; no one seemed to understand why she was standing there. Children were colliding with her at hip level, and… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The principal event of my childhood was that no adult in my family would tell me who my father was. — 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
“That image of how the children can lift Owen over their heads in Sunday school—how he is light enough so they can… — John Irving 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 Copy Share Image
“When (The World According To) Garp was published, people who’d lost children wrote to me. ‘’I lost one, too,’’ they told me.… — John Irving Copy Share Image
In increments both measurable and not, our childhood is stolen from us -- not always in one momentous event but often in… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Grown-ups shouldn’t finish books they’re not enjoying. When you’re no longer a child, and you no longer live at home, you don’t… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I still believe in getting married in churches and baptizing children. I go through those motions. — John Irving Copy Share Image
Kids are beautiful, man. And they know much more than grownups think they know. Kids are just perfect people until grownups get… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I never wanted my kids to feel I was more interested in anything I was doing than I was in them. — John Irving Copy Share Image
There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep. — John Irving Copy Share Image
It was one of those ridiculous arrangements that couples make when they are separating, but before they are divorced - when they… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The arrangements that couples make in order to maintain civility in the midst of their journey to divorce are often most elaborate… — 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 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 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
