Quotes from John Irving

In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases. John Irving's The World According to Garp

Kanonische Veränderungen über das Weihnachtslied

But Brother Pepe put reading on a pedestal; he was a Jesuit because the Jesuits had made him a reader and introduced him to Jesus, not necessarily in that order. It was best not to ask Pepe if reading or Jesus had saved him, or which one had saved him more.

the history of a city was like the history of a family—there is closeness, and even affection, but death eventually separates everyone from each other. It is only the vividness of memory that keeps the dead alive forever;

There's no stopping the Catholic Church," Nora had said. "You shouldn't try to stop them; all you can do is try to control the damage they do." Grace

WELL, NOW YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT GOD," said Owen Meany. "I CAN'T SEE HIM—BUT I ABSOLUTELY KNOW HE IS THERE!

Rituals are comforting; rituals combat loneliness.

Jenny decided that all manifestations of her innocence were futile and appeared defensive.

But miracles don't c-c-c-cause belief—real miracles don't m-m-m-make faith out of thin air; you have to already have faith in order to believe in real miracles.

THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET AMERICANS TO NOTICE ANYTHING IS TO TAX THEM OR DRAFT THEM OR KILL THEM," Owen said. He said that once—when Hester proposed abolishing the draft. "IF YOU ABOLISH THE DRAFT," said Owen Meany, "MOST AMERICANS WILL SIMPLY STOP CARING ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DOING IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.

Un Dios escrupuloso o crítico, pensó Wilbur Larch, nos mataría a todos.

Those who plead for the lives of the unborn should consider the lives of the living. ...the unborn are not as wretched or as in need of our assistance as the born! Please take pity on the born!

GOD HAS TAKEN YOUR MOTHER. MY HANDS WERE THE INSTRUMENT. GOD HAS TAKEN MY HANDS. I AM GOD'S INSTRUMENT.

When my mother felt my father take her hand into his—they were not clapping—she did not resist him; she gave back equal pressure, both of them never taking their eyes from the bulky bear performing below them, and my mother thought: I am nineteen and my life is just beginning.

Once a Garp, then an Arp, now only an Ar; she knew he was dying. He had just one vowel and one consonant left.

William was quite the hand at Couperin's Messe pour les couvents, too, and Alice had been right about the Christmas section from Handel's Messiah. As for the seduced parishioner, the military man's young wife, Jack's mother told him little—only enough that the boy assumed his father hadn't been asked to leave Kastelskirken for flubbing a refrain.

Jack found a small stone and threw it at them. The stone bounced across the ice. Only the gulls took flight. The ducks raced to the stone as if they thought it might be bread; then they waddled away from it. The gulls returned to the ice. Soon the ducks sat down, as if they were having a meeting, and the gulls walked disdainfully around them.

In a novel, your foremost objective isn't to offend no one," the

She shot from the sky to the bottom of the sea with her son beside her screaming, Sorrow hugged to his chest.

pitch. This is what a self-centered religion does to us: it allows us to use it to further our own ends.

Vano è dire che gli esseri umani dovrebbero contentarsi della tranquillità: occorre loro l'azione; e la creeranno, se non riescono a trovarla.

Pinche pendejo chimuelo!

Ogni volta che lanci una lumaca dalla darsena, Ray disse a Homer Wells per canzonarlo, costringi qualcuno a ricominciare la vita daccapo. Magari gli faccio un favore, disse Homer Wells, l'orfano.

Well then, Homer. I expect you to be of use.