“...the demands of writing and of real life are not always similar.” — John Irving Demands Copy Share Image
We will often do anything to pretend that nothing is on our minds. — John Irving Mind Copy Share Image
But I often think that so-called glamorous people are just very busy people. — John Irving Busy Copy Share Image
“She was convinced that women were as often victims of themselves as they were of men.” — John Irving Victims Copy Share Image
“Because I was a Wheelwright-and, therefore, a New England snob-I'd assumed that Phoenix was largely composed of Mormons and Baptists and Republicans;” — John Irving Religion Copy Share Image
Among adults – and among orphans – Wilbur Larch noted that delirious happiness was rare. — John Irving Adults 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
The ability to see the future can be a burden, and the younger you are and the more isolated you feel, maybe… — John Irving Ability Copy Share Image
but writers, Garp knew, were just observers - good and ruthless imitators of human behavior. — John Irving Behavior Copy Share Image
“it's not god who's fucked up, it's the screamers who say they believe in him and who claim to pursue their ends… — John Irving Christian-behavior Copy Share Image
“For seven of the eight years he was president, Reagan would not say the AIDS word.” — John Irving President reagan Copy Share Image
“I had acquired an undeniable mystique - if only to the Bancroft butt-room boys. Don't forget: Miss Frost was an older woman,… — John Irving Long way Copy Share Image
As many times as I've seen 'The Merchant of Venice,' I always take Shylock's side. For all the hatred that guy is… — John Irving Always Copy Share Image
“Look at the world: look at how many of our peerless leaders presume to tell us that they know what God wants!… — John Irving Leadership Copy Share Image
'Great Expectations' was an important novel in my adolescence. It was very much one of those emblematic novels that made me wish… — John Irving Adolescence Copy Share Image
“Of course: because it was in one of the camps that he went blind. They had performed some failed experiment on his… — John Irving Summer camp Copy Share Image
No one but me ever put a hand on me to feel that baby. No one wanted to put his ear against… — John Irving Baby 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 Book Copy Share Image
“Ruth thought of a novel as a great, untidy house, a disorderly mansion; her job was to make the place fit to… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“It surprised him that she was the one who looked stricken with fear, as if she were a prisoner in the passenger… — John Irving Fear 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 Ability Copy Share Image
I feel more a part of the wrestling community than I feel I belong to the community of arts and letters. Why?… — John Irving Art Copy Share Image
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE AN ENGLISH MAJOR. AT LEAST, YOU GET TO READ STUFF THAT'S WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO CAN WRITE! YOU… — John Irving English major Copy Share Image
“When Homer Wells saw the stationmaster’s brain stem exposed, he felt that Dr. Larch was busy enough – with both hands –… — John Irving Long time Copy Share Image
“Newspapers are a bad habit, the reading equivalent of junk food. What happens to me is that I seize upon an issue… — John Irving Bad habit Copy Share Image
“For Homer Wells, it was different. He did not imagine leaving St. Cloud's. The Princes of Maine that Homer saw, the Kings… — John Irving Princes Maine Copy Share Image
“If you don't feel you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then what… — John Irving Losing control Copy Share Image
A sentence boiled in her, but she could not yet see it clearly. — John Irving Clearly Copy Share Image
Just because you're sober, don't think you're a good driver, Cookie. — John Irving Cookies Copy Share Image
He also knew that rivals are best unmanned by being ignored. — John Irving Being ignored Copy Share Image
“I have digressed, which is also the kind of writer I would become.” — John Irving Digression Copy Share Image
