…there was no more safety to be found in love than there was to be found in a virus. — John Irving Copy Share Image
Know the story before you fall in love with your first sentence. If you don’t know the story before you begin the… — John Irving Copy Share Image
But who can distinguish between falling in love and imagining falling in love? Even genuinely falling in love is an act of… — 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 Copy Share Image
The history of a city was like the history of a family—there is closeness and even affection, but death eventually separates everyone… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“The time to read Madame Bovary is when your romantic hopes and desires have crashed, and you will believe that your future… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“...it was a feeling with nowhere to go. Was that what love was, and how it came to you--leaving you no options… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You can learn a lot from your lovers, but-for the most part-you get to keep your friends longer, and you learn more… — John Irving Copy Share Image
If you presume to love something, you must love the process of it much more than you love the finished product. — John Irving Copy Share Image
All his life he would hold this moment as exemplary of what love was. It was not wanting anything more, nor 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
