Being afraid you'll look like a coward is the worst reason for doing anything. — John Irving Copy Share Image
If we live long enough, we become caricatures of ourselves. — John Irving Caricatures Copy Share Image
Garp drank the beer and wondered if everything was an anticlimax.. — John Irving Beer Copy Share Image
The main character and the most important character are not always the same person - you have to know the difference. — John Irving Character Copy Share Image
Never confuse faith, or belief—of any kind—with something even remotely intellectual. — John Irving Belief Copy Share Image
Of all the things you choose in life, you don't get to choose what your nightmares are. You don't pick them; they… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“You're not like anyone else, Billy - that's what's the matter with you," Donna said.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
“What do you think I imagine making love to a vagina would be like? Maybe like having sex with a ballroom!” — John Irving Copy Share Image
My dear boy, please don’t put a label on me—don’t make me a category before you get to know me! — John Irving Boys Copy Share Image
This is a writer’s lesson: To learn that the sounds that we imagine can be the clearest, loudest sounds of all. — John Irving Copy Share Image
When writing a novel, I'm not smart enough to know how to foreshadow something if I don't know what it is. — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
No adult in my family would ever tell me anything about who my father was. I knew from an older cousin -… — John Irving Adults Copy Share Image
“Remember," Duncan asked on the plane, "how Walt asked if it was green or brown?" Both Garp and Duncan laughed. But it… — John Irving Bad weather Copy Share Image
I have lots of notebooks around, because one great advantage of writing by hand-in addition to how much it slows you down-is… — John Irving Advantage Copy Share Image
“He wanted to take Homer Wells in his arms, and hug him, and kiss him, but he could only hope that Homer… — John Irving Love Copy Share Image
“The time to read Madame Bovary is when your romantic hopes and desires have crashed, and you will believe that your future… — John Irving Future relationship 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
“Reagan Declares Firmness on Gulf; Plans are Unclear Isn't that classic? I don't mean the semicolon; I mean, isn't that just what… — John Irving Copy Share Image
THERE'S NO MONKEY BUSINESS ABOUT THIS ELECTION,' he told the voters. 'IF YOU'RE ENOUGH OF AN ASSHOLE TO VOTE FOR NIXON, YOUR… — John Irving Business 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
“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 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
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 Copy Share Image
“On his bedside table, between the reading lamp and the telephone, was his battered copy of David Copperfield. Homer didn't have to… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“When an orphan is depressed," wrote Wilbur Larch, "he is attracted to telling lies. A lie is at least a vigorous enterprise,… — John Irving Fate Copy Share Image
