If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one. — John Irving Abortion Copy Share Image
“…the consequences of sex are often more memorable than the act itself.” — John Irving Consequences Copy Share Image
My life as a writer consists of 1/8 talent and 7/8 discipline. — John Irving Discipline Copy Share Image
“In this dirty minded world, you are either someone's wife or someone's whore.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
“LIBERACE!' Owen would have cried. 'WHO WOULD HAVE BELIEVED IT POSSIBLE? LIBERACE! KILLED BY WATERMELONS!” — John Irving Copy Share Image
I get up early. I like to read a little before anyone but the dog is up. I also like to read… — John Irving Copy Share Image
Just when you begin thinking of yourself as memorable, you run into someone who can't even remember having met you — John Irving Memorable Copy Share Image
“We tend to think that if you don't know where you're goin, you don't belong where you are.” — john irving Copy Share Image
“Let the grave mound grow a little grass, I always say; then it’s safe to look.” — John Irving Copy Share Image
“The two old secretaries conversed in the manner of hostile but toothless male dogs.” — John Irving Secretaries Copy Share Image
“TODAY’S THE DAY! ‘… HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE; AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH AND BELIEVETH… — John Irving Today Copy Share Image
The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life led by human beings; the second was that human… — John Irving Bears Copy Share Image
“Ruth thought of a novel as a great, untidy house, a disorderly mansion; her job was to make the place fit to… — John Irving Books Copy Share Image
“But comedy is ingrained. A writer doesn't choose to be comic. You can choose a plot, or not to have one. You… — John Irving Comedy Copy Share Image
No one but me ever put a hand on me to feel that baby. No one wanted to put his ear against… — John Irving Baby Copy Share Image
And when you love a book, commit one glorious sentence of it-perhaps your favorite sentence-to memory. That way you won't forget the… — John Irving Book Copy Share Image
“Of course: because it was in one of the camps that he went blind. They had performed some failed experiment on his… — John Irving Summer camp Copy Share Image
“The kind of people claiming to be in communication with God today . . . they are enough to drive a real… — John Irving Christianity Copy Share Image
I believe you have constructive accidents en route through a novel only because you have mapped a clear way. If you have… — John Irving Accidents Copy Share Image
He had in abundance youth’s most dangerous qualities: optimism and relentlessness. He would risk everything he had to fly the plane that… — John Irving Abundance Copy Share Image
“When the valley surrounding St. Cloud's was cleared and the second growth (scrub pine and random, unmanaged softwoods) sprang up everywhere, like… — John Irving Environmentalism Copy Share Image
“From Hester’s bedroom—even though the door was closed—we could hear her breathing; Hester’s breathing, when she’d been drinking, was something between a… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I've always been interested in miracles, or the miraculous of the unexplained. I don't scoff at what makes people believe or want… — John Irving Copy Share Image
You bet I write disaster fiction. We have compiled a disastrous record on this planet, a record of stupidity and absurdity and… — John Irving Absurdity Copy Share Image
“Of course I knew then where Hester had hidden Owen Meany; he’d been under the couch cushions—and under her!—all the while we… — John Irving Copy Share Image
I try to see the whole woman,' Eddie said to Hannah. 'Of course I recognize that she's old, but there are photographs… — John Irving Ageless Copy Share Image
All the unimaginative assholes in the world who imagine that Shakespeare couldn't have written Shakespeare because it was impossible from what we… — John Irving Copy Share Image
“But you of all people!” I said to him. “Look at me—I never was a believer, not until this happened. If I… — John Irving Faith Copy Share Image
Nothing moves at the Hotel New Hampshire! We're screwed down here-for life! — John Irving Copy Share Image
“I have digressed, which is also the kind of writer I would become.” — John Irving Digression Copy Share Image
But I often think that so-called glamorous people are just very busy people. — John Irving Copy Share Image
We will often do anything to pretend that nothing is on our minds. — John Irving Mind Copy Share Image
