All John Irving Quotes
- And never forget, there is memory. Forget
- The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't behave that way… Behave
- The gardener had a dread of small women; he'd always imagined them to have an anger disproportionate to their size. Always Imagined
- In the world according to her father, Jenny Garp knew, we must have energy. Her famous grandmother, Jenny Fields, once thought of us as Externals,… Absentees
- It seems to me that people who don’t learn as easily as others suffer from a kind of learning disability—there is something different about the… Ability
- Nothing bears out in practice what it promises incipiently. Bears
- It was a sound like someone trying not to make a sound. Inspirational
- I want to go on being a student," I told him. "I want to be a teacher. I'm just a reader," I said. "DON'T SOUND… Ashamed
- She sat keenly white and still among them, a witness to everything--maybe determining nothing, possibly judging it all. All
- This was not of the nature of a Christlike lesson for Owen Meany to learn, as he lay in the manger, that someone you hate… Christlike
- 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; but if you… Boy
- wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn't reading. Glows
- What do Americans know about morality? They don't want their presidents to have penises but they don't mind if their presidents covertly arrange to support… Aid
- People only ask questions when they're ready to hear the answers. Answers
- It was one of those ridiculous arrangements that couples make when they are separating, but before they are divorced - when they still imagine that… Arrangements
- The arrangements that couples make in order to maintain civility in the midst of their journey to divorce are often most elaborate when the professed… Arrangements
- The excitement of anticipation was *almost* equal to the thrill of lovemaking ... Almost Equal
- Life forces enough final decisions on us. We should have the sense to avoid as many of the unnecessary ones as we can. Avoid
- Just when you begin thinking of yourself as memorable, you run into someone who can't even remember having met you Begin
- Kids are perfect people till grownups get their hands on them. Grownups
- You can give yourself a headache trying to decipher the tattoos on a naked man who’s leaping up and down on a bed. Bed
- Here is the trap you are in.... And it's not my trap—I haven't trapped you. Because abortions are illegal, women who need and want them… Abortion
- I think that was when the headmaster realized he had lost; he realized then that he was finished. Because, what could he do? Was he… Awkward
- If I had to be anything," he told her, "I'd probably be a socialist, but I don't want to be anything. Inspirational
- Every American should be forced to live outside the United States for a year or two. Americans should be forced to see how ridiculous they… Absolutely