John Irving

We are formed by what we desire

— John Irving

And never forget, there is memory.

— John Irving

“ARE THEY ESPECIALLY WILD?”

— John Irving

Life is an X-rated soap opera.

— John Irving

Keep passing the open windows.

— John Irving

Self-hatred is worse than loneliness.

— John Irving

My brain is sending poison to my heart.

— John Irving

“MADE FOR TELEVISION.”

— John Irving

“a school-vacation skier is never the equal to a north-country native.”

— John Irving

Being wrong about important things is exhausting.

— John Irving

Imagining something is better than remembering something.

— John Irving

“Novels are just another kind of cross-dressing, aren't they?”

— John Irving

“...the demands of writing and of real life are not always similar.”

— John Irving

“That's okay," I said. "We're writers. We make things up.”

— John Irving

“...where our desires "come from"; that is a dark, winding road.”

— John Irving

Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.

— John Irving

We permit bad taste in this country. In fact, we even encourage it - and reward it in all manner of ways.

— John Irving

The gardener had a dread of small women; he'd always imagined them to have an anger disproportionate to their size.

— John Irving

“I realize that a writer's business is setting fire to Piggy Sneed-and trying to save him-again and again; forever.”

— John Irving

“Mr. Wiggin injected a kind of horror-movie element into the Christmas miracle; to the rector, every Bible story was-if properly understood-threatening.”

— John Irving

Almost everyone is dying to leave home, eventually; and almost everyone needs to.

— John Irving

I believe in rules of behavior, and I'm quite interested in stories about the consequences of breaking those rules.

— John Irving

If you asked me one day, I might say, "Well, sometimes I feel a little bit religious." If you asked me another…

— John Irving

“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

“You know, it's not only writers who have this problem, but writers really, really have this problem; for us, a so-called train…

— John Irving

You don't have to be in the habit of going to church to listen to such a literary minister; you don't have…

— John Irving

In this world,” Franny once observed, “just as you’re trying to think of yourself as memorable, there is always someone who forgets…

— John Irving

Grant us safe lodging, and holy rest,” Mrs. Grogan was saying, “and peace at last.” Amen, thought Wilbur Larch, the Saint of…

— John Irving

“Ever since the Christmas of '53, I have felt that the yuletide is a special hell for those families who have suffered…

— John Irving

“Your disapproval is noted. It is legitimate. You are welcome to disapprove. But you are not welcome to be ignorant, to look…

— John Irving

I don't think I've had a very interesting life, and I feel that is a great liberation. That gives me great freedom…

— John Irving

“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

“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

“JUST BECAUSE A BUNCH OF ATHEISTS ARE BETTER WRITERS THAN THE GUYS WHO WROTE THE BIBLE DOESN'T NECESSARILY MAKE THEM RIGHT!" [Owen…

— John Irving

“Candy felt helpless; no one seemed to understand why she was standing there. Children were colliding with her at hip level, and…

— John Irving

I have a process that I seem to always, to some degree, as a writer, adhere to, but I certainly have never…

— John Irving

“Just accept as a fact that everyone of any emotional importance to you is related to everyone else of any emotional importance…

— John Irving

“Once the state starts providing, it feels free to hand out the rules, too!" Larch blurted hastily. ..."In a better world..." she…

— John Irving

So we dream on. Thus we invent our lives. We give ourselves a sainted mother, we make our father a hero; and…

— John Irving

Every American should be forced to live outside the United States for a year or two. Americans should be forced to see…

— John Irving