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
“Isn't it amazing? The Americans have so many good afterthoughts!” — John Irving Americans Copy Share Image
You only grow by coming to the end of something and by beginning something else. — John Irving Ends 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
I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character. — John Irving Character 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
“Whoever acquired any real or substantive intelligence from reading newspapers? I'm sure I have no in-depth comprehension of American villany; yet I… — John Irving Ice cream Copy Share Image
I don't really set out to explore grand themes. I set out to tell a story. And one I have to be… — John Irving Able 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
“That was when I first began to think about certain events or specific things being "important" and having "special purpose." Until then,… — John Irving Believe in god Copy Share Image
“TODAY’S THE DAY! ‘… HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE; AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH AND BELIEVETH… — John Irving 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
If you're still wondering about details - how am I going to get these two to meet, or whatever - when you're… — John Irving About 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 Adults Copy Share Image
If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one. — John Irving Abortion Copy Share Image
“If you're God's instrument, Owen," I said, "how come you need my help to stuff a basketball?” — John Irving God Copy Share Image
“On his bedside table, between the reading lamp and the telephone, was his battered copy of David Copperfield. Homer didn't have to… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“It is the well educated who will improve society—and they will improve it, at first, by criticizing it, and we are giving… — John Irving Well educated Copy Share Image
“I won’t pretend that it wasn’t gratifying to hear this, but I would rather have heard it privately; it wasn’t something I… — 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 Taxes Copy Share Image
