“The point was - he wasn't acting . It was as if he'd forgotten how! Jack still knew his lines, but he… — John Irving Copy Share Image
For most of my life, when I've finished the book I'm writing, there've always been as many as two or three other… — John Irving Book Copy Share Image
“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET AMERICANS TO NOTICE ANYTHING IS TO TAX THEM OR DRAFT THEM OR KILL THEM,” Owen said.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
I always thought that you could do worse than find yourself dying in the company of a devoted former student. — John Irving Business Copy Share Image
… but only because exhaustion is a life-sign; it is at least a form of being human. — John Irving Being human Copy Share Image
“Once again, Jack reached for her hand. It was the only thing he knew how to do. As it would turn out,… — 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 Affection 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 Hardest thing Copy Share Image
“Of course I knew then where Hester had hidden Owen Meany; he’d been under the couch cushions—and under her!—all the while we… — John Irving Owen Meany Copy Share Image
“Moreover, there was what Amy called “the cocksuckers’ contingent of the country”—what Danny knew as the dumber-than-dog-shit element, those bully patriots—and they… — John Irving Patriotism Copy Share Image
Life forces enough final decisions on us. We should have the sense to avoid as many of the unnecessary ones as we… — John Irving Decision Copy Share Image
“In this dirty minded world, you are either someone's wife or someone's whore. And if you're not either people think there is… — John Irving Humor 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 Lost time Copy Share Image
“It was quality that killed Lilly; it was the end of The Great Gatsby, which was not her ending, which was not… — John Irving Great gatsby Copy Share Image
“Bill is a fiction writer, but he writes in the first-person voice in a style that is tell-all confessional; in fact, his… — John Irving Fiction Copy Share Image
I'm old-fashioned, a storyteller. I'm not an analyst and I'm not an intellectual. — John Irving Analysts Copy Share Image
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 Forget Copy Share Image
I'm not a movie person. They're collaborations of the worst kind. You must compromise yourself to many interests that are venal and… — John Irving Best interests at heart Copy Share Image
I don't read anything electronically. I don't write electronically, either - except e-mails to my family and friends. I write in longhand.… — John Irving Always Copy Share Image
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 Advantage Copy Share Image
“But Americans are not great historians, and so, for years—educated by my neighbor—I thought that sagamore was an Indian word for lake.” — John Irving History Copy Share Image
“Homer Wells was in Wally’s room, reading David Copperfield and thinking about Heaven – ‘…that sky above me, where, in the mystery… — John Irving Love Copy Share Image
