“I you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.” — John Irving Courage Copy Share Image
If you care about something you have to protect it. If you're lucky enough to find a way of life you love,… — John Irving Caring Copy Share Image
One of the humbling things about having written more than one novel is the sense that every time you begin, that new… — John Irving About Copy Share Image
“Never trust a man with a lunatic wife in an attic," Richard told me. "And anyone named Heathcliff should make you suspicious.” — John Irving Marriage Copy Share Image
Kids are beautiful, man. And they know much more than grownups think they know. Kids are just perfect people until grownups get… — John Irving Beautiful Copy Share Image
“And when Dr. Daruwalla breathed in her dangerous aroma, he thought he'd at last identified the smell of sex, which struck him… — John Irving Death Copy Share Image
“Any contractor who would construct a flat-roofed, two-storey building in Northern New Hampshire was enough of a moron to not know how… — John Irving Moron Copy Share Image
“You can't possibly know that you're going to be a writer!" Miss Frost said. "It's not a career choice.” — John Irving Frost Copy Share Image
. . .There are moments when time does stop. We must be alert enough to notice such moments . . . — John Irving Doe Copy Share Image
“You don't sound very well Owen." I pointed out to him. "IF JESUS HAD TO BE BORN ON A DAY LIKE THIS.… — John Irving Christianity 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 Friends 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 Abortion Copy Share Image
“Anne-Elisabeth had taken the music from Dr. Horvath and was looking through it. 'I see finger-cramping possibilities, William - lots of them,'… — John Irving Music Copy Share Image
“At Owen Meany’s burial, one of Owen’s Sunday school classmates remembers how easy he was to lift up. “He was so light—he… — John Irving Owen Meany Copy Share Image
Owen meany who rarely wasted words and who had the conversation-stopping habit of dropping remarks like coins into a deep pool of… — John Irving Bottom Copy Share Image
“Wallace Worthington would have reminded Wilbur Larch of someone he might have met at the Channing-Peabodys’, where Dr. Larch went to perform… — John Irving Nobility Copy Share Image
I don't want you to describe to me—not ever—what you were doing to that poor boy to make him sound like that;… — John Irving Boys Copy Share Image
“We’re as common as rain.” And she was right: to each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of… — John Irving Family Copy Share Image
“Your disapproval is noted. It is legitimate. You are welcome to disapprove. But you are not welcome to be ignorant, to look… — John Irving Disapproval Copy Share Image
“If you're a writer, the problem is that, when you try to call a halt to thinking about your novel-in-progress, your imagination… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
I grew up in a family where, through my teenage years, I was expected to go to church on Sunday. It wasn't… — John Irving Catholic Copy Share Image
I am not attracted to writers by style. What style do Dickens, Grass, and Vonnegut have in common? How silly! I am… — John Irving Angry Copy Share Image
They all settled into being the kind of friends when they heard from each other… or when they occasionally got together. And… — John Irving Friendship Copy Share Image
I write the last line, and then I write the line before that. I find myself writing backwards for a while, until… — John Irving Backwards Copy Share Image
I've always been a fan of the 19th century novel, of the novel that is plotted, character-driven, and where the passage of… — John Irving 19th century Copy Share Image
“IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU LEARNED IT- IT'S A GIFT. IF YOU CARE ABOUT SOMETHING, YOU HAVE TO PROTECT IT. IF YOU'RE… — John Irving Courage Copy Share Image
“What the hell is the matter with Eddie? Ruth was thinking. If he doesn't stop staring at me, I'm going to drive… — John Irving Gaze Copy Share Image
I grew up in a family where, through my teenage years, I was expected to go to church on Sunday. It wasn't… — John Irving Catholic Copy Share Image
When I was still in prep school - 14, 15 - I started keeping notebooks, journals. I started writing, almost like landscape… — John Irving Diaries Copy Share Image
It was one of those ridiculous arrangements that couples make when they are separating, but before they are divorced - when they… — John Irving Children Copy Share Image
Sometimes that's a year, sometimes it's 18 months, where all I'm doing is taking notes. I'm reconstructing the story from the back… — John Irving Months Copy Share Image
And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence until all the important connections in the… — John Irving Already taken Copy Share Image
I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to… — John Irving Atmosphere Copy Share Image
“It's long been a point of mine that the freedom of religion, which this country alleges to support, works two ways. We're… — John Irving Freedom Copy Share Image
The arrangements that couples make in order to maintain civility in the midst of their journey to divorce are often most elaborate… — John Irving Children Copy Share Image
Crazy people made him crazy. It was as if he personally resented them giving into madness - in part, because he so… — John Irving Behave Copy Share Image
You don't want to dwell on your enemies, you know. I basically feel so superior to my critics for the simple reason… — John Irving Book Copy Share Image
More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting. I wouldn't say I have… — John Irving Half Copy Share Image
I thought some of the stories were neat; I liked some of the liturgy and some of the songs. If you're a… — John Irving Attention 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 Adventure Copy Share Image
