All John Irving Quotes
- If watching television doesn't hasten death, it surely manages to make death very inviting; for television so shamelessly sentimentalizes and romanticizes death that it makes… Alive
- She felt detached from her family, and thought it strange how they had lavished so much attention on her, as a child, and then at… Absorb
- You're nice,' Cushie told him, squeezing his hand. 'And you're my oldest friend.' But they both must have known that you can know someone all… All
- A woman half dressed seemed to have some power, but a man was simply not as handsome as when he was naked, and not as… Clothed
- Among adults – and among orphans – Wilbur Larch noted that delirious happiness was rare. Adults
- Here in St. Cloud’s,” Dr. Larch wrote, “ I have been given the choice of playing God or leaving practically everything up to chance. It… Been
- The powerful wind swept his hair away from his face; he leaned his chest into the wind, as if he stood on the deck of… Chest
- Grant us safe lodging, and holy rest,” Mrs. Grogan was saying, “and peace at last.” Amen, thought Wilbur Larch, the Saint of St. Cloud’s, who… Addict
- … but only because exhaustion is a life-sign; it is at least a form of being human. Exhaustion
- … and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life. Accept
- This is a writer’s lesson: To learn that the sounds that we imagine can be the clearest, loudest sounds of all. All
- We will often do anything to pretend that nothing is on our minds. Funny
- We often need to lose sight of our priorities in order to see them. Lose
- You cannot drive with your eyes in the rear-view mirror… But dignity is difficult to maintain. Stamina requires constant upkeep. Repetition is boring. And you… Boring
- The former stewardess glared at her ex-pilot husband as if he had been speaking, and thinking, in the absence of sufficient oxygen. Absence
- Owen Meany believed that “coincidence” was a stupid, shallow refuge sought by stupid, shallow people who were unable to accept the fact that their lives… Accept
- As it was, things went from bad to worse, as they often will when amateurs are involved in an activity that they perform in bad… Activity
- The only way you get Americans to notice anything is to tax them or draft them or kill them. Americans
- He also knew that rivals are best unmanned by being ignored. Best
- Never confuse faith, or belief—of any kind—with something even remotely intellectual. Any
- I will tell you what is my overriding perception of the last twenty years: that we are a civilization careening toward a succession of anticlimaxes… Anticlimaxes
- I’m not afraid, but I’m very nervous. Afraid
- Don’t you understand?” he would say, “You imagine the story better than I remember it. Better
- You take every opportunity given you in this world, even if you have too many opportunities. One day, the opportunities stop, you know. Day
- And Father said, “There are no happy endings.” “Right!” cried Iowa Bob – an odd mixture of exuberance and stoicism in his cracked voice. “Death… Based