If I have any advantage, maybe, as a writer, it is that I don't think I'm very interesting. I mean, beginning a… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Here is the trap you are in.... And it's not my trap—I haven't trapped you. Because abortions are illegal, women who need… — John Irving Copy Share Image
When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces… — John Irving Copy Share Image
It seems to me that people who don’t learn as easily as others suffer from a kind of learning disability—there is something… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I want to go on being a student," I told him. "I want to be a teacher. I'm just a reader," I… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't… — John Irving Copy Share Image
So, you see, it's a real chore for me to write a book review because it's like a contest. It's like I'm… — John Irving Copy Share Image
But I felt certain that if the world would stop indulging wars and famines and other perils, it would be possible for… — John Irving Copy Share Image
And when you love a book, commit one glorious sentence of it-perhaps your favorite sentence-to memory. That way you won't forget the… — John Irving Copy Share Image
We don't always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly--as if out… — John Irving Copy Share Image
We permit bad taste in this country. In fact, we even encourage it - and reward it in all manner of ways. — John Irving Copy Share Image
If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it. — John Irving Copy Share Image
I have a process that I seem to always, to some degree, as a writer, adhere to, but I certainly have never… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I am compulsive about writing, I need to do it the way I need sleep and exercise and food and sex; I… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I have no respect for the right-to-life position, though I have every respect for an individual who says, "I could never have… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Grant us safe lodging, and holy rest,” Mrs. Grogan was saying, “and peace at last.” Amen, thought Wilbur Larch, the Saint of… — John Irving Copy Share Image
He had heard her say, so many times, that a society that approved of making abortion illegal was a society that approved… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Along the (writing) way accidents happen, detours get taken... But these are not "divine" accidents; I don't believe in those. I believe… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I believe you have constructive accidents en route through a novel only because you have mapped a clear way. If you have… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Religious freedom should work two ways: we should be free to practice the religion of our choice, but we must also be… — 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
The only way you get Americans to notice anything is to tax them or draft them or kill them. — 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
