“When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don''t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The excitement of anticipation was *almost* equal to the thrill of lovemaking ... — John Irving Adventure Copy Share Image
“Why do you guys want to take all the mystery away? Isn't the mystery an exciting part of sex?” — John Irving Mystery Copy Share Image
“By '95 - in New York, alone - more Americans had died of AIDS than were killed in Vietnam.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
“We've been an empire in decline since I can remember," Ketchum said bluntly; he wasn't kidding. "We are a lost nation, Danny.… — John Irving America Copy Share Image
I think there is often a 'what if' proposition that gets me thinking about all my novels. — John Irving Copy Share Image
You can give yourself a headache trying to decipher the tattoos on a naked man who’s leaping up and down on a… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I certainly think Obama is the most hopeful president I've seen in the country since John Kennedy. — John Irving Copy Share Image
The desire to never leave your side, the desire to never see you again. The desire to see your face asleep on… — John Irving Desire Copy Share Image
It's my experience that very few writers, young or old, are really seeking advice when they give out their work to be… — John Irving Advice Copy Share Image
And I find - I'm 63, and my capacity to be by myself and just spend time by myself hasn't diminished any.… — John Irving Copy Share Image
So, you see, it's a real chore for me to write a book review because it's like a contest. It's like I'm… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I have no respect for the right-to-life position, though I have every respect for an individual who says, "I could never have… — John Irving Book Copy Share Image
In an episodic treatment, such as a teleplay is, you have the ability to do what you can do in a novel,… — John Irving Ability Copy Share Image
Sometimes that's a year, sometimes it's 18 months, where all I'm doing is taking notes. I'm reconstructing the story from the back… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You know, everybody dies. My parents died. Your father died. Everybody dies. I'm going to die too. So will you. The thing… — John Irving Adventure Copy Share Image
“These same people who tell us we must defend the lives of the unborn-they are the same people who seem not so… — John Irving Freedom of choice Copy Share Image
“YOUR BOREDOM IS YOUR PROBLEM," said Owen Meany. "IT'S YOUR LACK OF IMAGINATION THAT BORES YOU. HARDY HAS THE WORLD FIGURED OUT.… — John Irving Boredom Copy Share Image
“Once the state starts providing, it feels free to hand out the rules, too!" Larch blurted hastily. ..."In a better world..." she… — John Irving Abortion Copy Share Image
“Just accept as a fact that everyone of any emotional importance to you is related to everyone else of any emotional importance… — John Irving Change your life Copy Share Image
“Candy felt helpless; no one seemed to understand why she was standing there. Children were colliding with her at hip level, and… — John Irving Children Copy Share Image
I have a process that I seem to always, to some degree, as a writer, adhere to, but I certainly have never… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“That image of how the children can lift Owen over their heads in Sunday school—how he is light enough so they can… — John Irving Children Copy Share Image
“JUST BECAUSE A BUNCH OF ATHEISTS ARE BETTER WRITERS THAN THE GUYS WHO WROTE THE BIBLE DOESN'T NECESSARILY MAKE THEM RIGHT!" [Owen… — John Irving Atheists Copy Share Image
I'm a very old-fashioned novelist. I write 19th-century novels, where a lot of rules apply. — John Irving Copy Share Image
If I had to be anything," he told her, "I'd probably be a socialist, but I don't want to be anything. — John Irving Copy Share Image
I've always preferred writing in longhand. I've always written first drafts in longhand. — John Irving Copy Share Image
“Mr. Merrill was most appealing because he reassured us that doubt was the essence of faith, and not faith’s opposite.” — John Irving Faith Copy Share Image
“What she might have told him was that taxidermy, like sex, is a very personal subject; the manner in which we impose… — John Irving 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 Choice Copy Share Image
A writer's job is to imagine everything so personally that the fiction is as vivid as memories. — John Irving Closeness Copy Share Image
What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us wind… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“It's Shakespearean, Bill; lots of the important stuff in Shakespeare happens offstage - you just hear about it.” — John Irving Shakespeare Copy Share Image
“After twenty years in Canada, there are certain American lunatics who still fascinate me.” — John Irving Canada Copy Share Image
It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change. — John Irving Copy Share Image
You live your life at the time you live it -- you don't have much of an overview when what's happening to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Whereas she wished more of the population were better educated, she also believed that education was largely wasted on the majority of… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Don't forget this, too: Rumors aren't interested in the unsensational story; rumors don't care what's true. — John Irving Care Copy Share Image
Newspapers are even worse for me than ice cream; headlines, and the big issues that generate the headlines, are pure fat. — John Irving 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 Adolescence Copy Share Image
![“So, you see, it's a real chore for me to write a book review because it's like a contest. It's like I'm writing that book review for every bad book reviewer I've ever known and it's a way of saying [thrusts a middle finger into the air] this is how you ought to do it. I like to rub their noses in…” quote by John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5d/john-irving-337_air_so-you-see-it-s-a-real-chore-for-me-to-w_1152495.jpg)
![“JUST BECAUSE A BUNCH OF ATHEISTS ARE BETTER WRITERS THAN THE GUYS WHO WROTE THE BIBLE DOESN'T NECESSARILY MAKE THEM RIGHT!" [Owen Meany] said crossly. "LOOK AT THOSE WEIRDO TV MIRACLE-WORKERS--THEY'RE TRYING TO GET PEOPLE TO BELIEVE IN MAGIC! BUT THE REAL MIRACLES AREN'T ANYTHING YOU CAN…” quote by John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/70e/john-irving-337_atheists_just-because-a-bunch-of-atheists-are-bet_31804.jpg)
