“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
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
“The hardest thing to accept about the passage of time is that the people who mattered most to us are all wrapped… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“in the hospital, Jenny Fields felt she was making up for lost time; she was discovering that people weren't much more mysterious,… — John Irving Copy Share Image
It happens to many teenagers-that moment when you feel full of resentment or distrust for those adults you once loved unquestioningly. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“There were those apres-sex moments when, in a half-asleep or forgetting that I was with a woman, I would reach out and… — John Irving Copy Share Image
When time passes, it's the people who knew you whom you want to see; they're the ones you can talk to. When… — John Irving Copy Share Image
So, I don't work in terms of real time. I don't work in a timely fashion. — John Irving Copy Share Image
I suppose I try to look for those things where the world turns on you. It's every automobile accident, every accident at… — 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 Copy Share Image
I have learned that the consequences of our past actions are always interesting; I have learned to view the present with a… — John Irving Copy Share Image
What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us wind… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The ability to see the future can be a burden, and the younger you are and the more isolated you feel, maybe… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“I think about you more and more, but I don't waste my time - or yours - thinking about who you were… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“It galls me that seeking out the seedy, the sordid, the sexual, and the deviant is the expected (if not altogether acceptable)… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“When, if only for a moment, the novelist steps out of the creator's role, what roles are there for the novelist to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You live your life at the time you live it -- you don't have much of an overview when what's happening to… — 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
“At times, he admitted, he had been very happy in the apple business. He knew what Larch would have told him: that… — John Irving Copy Share Image
As many times as I've seen 'The Merchant of Venice,' I always take Shylock's side. For all the hatred that guy is… — John Irving Copy Share Image
When people say that German or any other language is romantic... all they really mean is that they've enjoyed a past in… — John Irving Copy Share Image
…there is no nakedness that compares to being naked in front of someone for the first time. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“He might have told Homer, then, that he loved him very much and that he needed something very active to occupy himself… — John Irving Copy Share Image
And I find - I'm 63, and my capacity to be by myself and just spend time by myself hasn't diminished any.… — 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
