No adult in my family would ever tell me anything about who my father was. I knew from an older cousin -… — John Irving Copy Share Image
In the world according to her father, Jenny Garp knew, we must have energy. Her famous grandmother, Jenny Fields, once thought of… — 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
“He felt the pregnant woman squeeze his hand so hard that it hurt. The word ‘Mother!’ was strangely on his lips when… — 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 Jack Burns needed to hold his mother's hand, his fingers could see in the dark. — John Irving Copy Share Image
Before I began The Cider House Rules, I thought I wanted to write about a father-son relationship that was closer, more conflicted,… — John Irving Copy Share Image
It seems to me that a great deal of this type of censorship has to do with absolving parents of responsibility -… — John Irving Copy Share Image
So we dream on. Thus we invent our lives. We give ourselves a sainted mother, we make our father a hero; and… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Ah, well..." I started to say, and then stopped. So that was where he was going; I'd heard it before. Richard had… — 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
The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life led by human beings; the second was that human… — 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
And Father said, “There are no happy endings.” “Right!” cried Iowa Bob – an odd mixture of exuberance and stoicism in his… — John Irving 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 Copy Share Image
“According to my mother, I was a fiction writer before I'd written any ficton, by wich she meant not only that I… — John Irving Copy Share Image
No touching Baby Jesus.” “But we’re his parents!” proclaimed Mary Beth, who was being generous to include poor Joseph under this appellation.… — 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
You know, everybody dies. My parents died. Your father died. Everybody dies. I'm going to die too. So will you. The thing… — 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
