John Irving Quotes

108 Sourced Quotes

Don't forget this, too: Rumors aren't interested in the unsensational story; rumors don't care what's true.

John Irving
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 ever do it again, please cover his mouth with your hand.

John Irving
Your memory is a monster; you forget—it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you—and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!

John Irving
Death, it seems," Garp wrote, "does not like to wait until we are prepared for it. Death is indulgent and enjoys, when it can, a flair for the dramatic.

John Irving
Being afraid you'll look like a coward is the worst reason for doing anything.

John Irving
When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it - rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened.

John Irving
Almost everyone is dying to leave home, eventually; and almost everyone needs to.

John Irving
It doesn't really matter who said it - it's so obviously true. Before you can write anything, you have to notice something.

John Irving
Every study of the gods, of everyone's gods, is a revelation of vengeance towards the innocent.

John Irving
Homer and Candy passed by the empty and brightly lit dispensary; they peeked into Nurse Angela's empty office. Homer knew better than to peek into the delivery room when the light was on. From the dormitory, they could hear Dr. Larch's reading voice. Although Candy held tightly to his hand, Homer was inclined to hurry - in order not to miss the bedtime story.

John Irving
Most places we leave in childhood grow less, not more, fancy.

John Irving
Kids are beautiful, man. And they know much more than grownups think they know. Kids are just perfect people until grownups get their hands on them.

John Irving
Half my life is an act of revision; more than half the act is performed with small changes.

John Irving
Because abortions are illegal, women who need and want them have no choice in the matter, and you-because you know how to perform them-have no choice, either

John Irving
Like many successful people he made good use of disappointments - responding to them with energy, with near-frenzied activity, rather than needing to recover from them.

John Irving
You can learn a lot from your lovers, but-for the most part-you get to keep your friends longer, and you learn more from them.

John Irving
What has been violated here is your freedom of choice, and every woman's freedom of choice, too.

John Irving
A sentence boiled in her, but she could not yet see it clearly.

John Irving