“We aren't eccentric, we're not bizarre. To each other, we're as normal and nice as the smell of bread, we were just… — John Irving Family Copy Share Image
Maybe television causes cancer, Garp thinks; but his real irritation is a writer's irritation: he knows that wherever the TV glows, there… — John Irving Cancer Copy Share Image
They all settled into being the kind of friends when they heard from each other… or when they occasionally got together. And… — John Irving Friends Copy Share Image
“It's natural to want someone you love to do what you want, or what you think would be good for them, but… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The concept of writing a novel and not knowing where it's going - I don't know how to do that. Novels are… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“Owen Meany had believed that his death was necessary if others were to be saved from a stupidity and hatred that was… — John Irving Death Copy Share Image
“...worst of all were the highly unlikely science-fiction novels, or the equally implausible futuristic tales. Couldn't my mom and Nana Victoria see… — John Irving Copy Share Image
The powerful wind swept his hair away from his face; he leaned his chest into the wind, as if he stood on… — John Irving Copy Share Image
He had heard her say, so many times, that a society that approved of making abortion illegal was a society that approved… — John Irving Abortion Copy Share Image
“SMALLER, BUT I CAN STILL SEE YOU!” said Owen Meany. Then he left us; he was gone. I could tell by his… — John Irving Chain of command Copy Share Image
She felt detached from her family, and thought it strange how they had lavished so much attention on her, as a child,… — John Irving Affection Copy Share Image
I have no respect for the right-to-life position. But when you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion. The… — John Irving Abortion Copy Share Image
“A person's faith goes at its own pace. The trouble with church is the service. A service is conducted for a mass… — John Irving Catholic Copy Share Image
The history of a city was like the history of a family—there is closeness and even affection, but death eventually separates everyone… — John Irving Affection Copy Share Image
“The Reagan administration is full of such “careless people”; their kind of carelessness is immoral. And President Reagan calls himself a Christian!… — John Irving American people Copy Share Image
“As for the river, it just kept moving,as river do--as rivers do. Under the logs, the body of the young Canadian moved… — John Irving River 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
My first attraction to writing novels was the plot, that almost extinct animal. Those novels I read which made me want to… — John Irving Copy Share Image
It was one of those ridiculous arrangements that couples make when they are separating, but before they are divorced - when they… — John Irving Children Copy Share Image
“I read that part over and over again, until I felt I had the pronunciation right. There was quite a good pencil… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to… — John Irving Book Copy Share Image
I think now that is the nature of hymns-they make us want to repeat them...they are a part of any service, and… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I grew up in a family where, through my teenage years, I was expected to go to church on Sunday. It wasn't… — John Irving Catholic Copy Share Image
I'm not a movie person. They're collaborations of the worst kind. You must compromise yourself to many interests that are venal and… — John Irving Best interests at heart Copy Share Image
People are either attracted to the unseemly or disapproving of it, or both; yet we try to sound superior to the unseemly… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO BE AN ENGLISH MAJOR, YOU DON’T NEED ANY SPECIAL TALENT, YOU JUST HAVE TO PAY… — John Irving English major Copy Share Image
A novel is a piece of architecture. It's not random wallowings or confessional diaries. It's a building-it has to have walls and… — John Irving Architecture Copy Share Image
“What the hell is the matter with Eddie? Ruth was thinking. If he doesn't stop staring at me, I'm going to drive… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I don’t have to say to you or anyone in our WRESTLING community that we are a small world unto ourselves and… — John Irving Copy Share Image
If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one. But we are a country - USA - that likes to… — John Irving Abortion Copy Share Image
“We’re as common as rain.” And she was right: to each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of… — John Irving Family Copy Share Image
“Here was the world-famous novelist with her penchant for detail; yet, in her observations of a prostitute with a customer, she had… — John Irving Irony Copy Share Image
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;… — John Irving Boys Copy Share Image
If watching television doesn't hasten death, it surely manages to make death very inviting; for television so shamelessly sentimentalizes and romanticizes death… — John Irving Alive Copy Share Image
You don't want to be ungenerous toward people who give you prizes, but it is never the social or political message that… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“...I suddenly realized what small towns are. They are places where you grow up with the peculiar-you live next to the strange… — John Irving Copy Share Image
When time passes, it's the people who knew you whom you want to see; they're the ones you can talk to. When… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I grew up around books - my grandmother's house, where I lived as a small child, was full of books. My father… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Like many successful people he made good use of disappointments - responding to them with energy, with near-frenzied activity, rather than needing… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Patriotism is not necessarily defined as blind devotion to a president's particular agenda - and that to dispute a presidential policy is… — John Irving Agendas Copy Share Image
