Quotes from John Irving

His mind was closed to the possibility of a new story; there was no room in his heart for a new character of God's holy choosing, or for a new

Don't worry, Bill," Borkman told me. "I have Muriel and Richard in my pocket-back!" "In your back pocket—yes," I said to the crafty deerstalker on skis.

It was not only because he spoke their language; it was his voice that compelled the children to listen to him—it was a voice like their voices. That was why they trusted him, why they listened. "DOONG SA," he said, and they stopped crying.

Chlípnost dohání i ty nejlepÅ¡í muže tak daleko, že jednají zp?sobem, naprosto neodpovídajícím jejich charakteru.

foreshadowing is the storytelling companion of fate.

SOON! NAM SOON!" All the children threw themselves on the floor—they covered their ears, they shut their eyes. "NOW I KNOW WHY MY VOICE NEVER CHANGES," Owen said to me. "DO YOU SEE WHY?" he asked me.

It is occasionally necessary for me to tell Torontonians of the presence of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; they tend to think of the Great Lakes as the waters of the world.

Good evening, knocked-up faculty daughter. How are you managing now, you smelly little slut?

After all: I had been practicing lifting up Owen Meany—forever. The

The nurses at River Bend reported that Nana sometimes shouted at the golfers. "If you're doing this for exercise, just keep walking—don't keep stopping!" my grandmother yelled at them. It

Writers simply have to accept readers who prefer other writers.

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!

If you're living the way you want to, the concept of holidays becomes obsolete.

Pour Juan Diego, des morts ou des fantômes auraient dû avoir une toute autre attitude, surtout dans une église. Que venaient-ils chercher ? Ne connaissaient-ils pas les réponses désormais ?

Nurse Angela, with her love of cats and orphans, once remarked of Homer Wells that the boy must adore the name she gave him because he fought so hard not to lose it.

Between men and women, as Jenny Fields once said, only death is shared equally.

Nowadays, of course, with the precautionary tests they take—especially with a woman Franny's age—they already know the sex of the child; or someone knows. Not Franny—she didn't want to know. Who wants to know such things in advance? Who doesn't know that half of pleasure lies in the wonder of anticipation?

In addition to suffering her husband's scathing portrayal of a shrewish wife and mother, Nana Victoria had to sit not more than two seats away from the transsexual wrestler!)

though there was nothing wrong with Garp's hands – they just seemed to be clumsy at masturbation. 'Garp!

What bothered Ruth was that she needed to be with Rooie again -- just to see, as in a story, what would happen next. That meant Rooie was in charge.

I saw an oxygen tank in the cluttered room—what had been Atkins's "study," as his son had explained, now converted for a deathwatch.

To the dump kids, it also seemed perfectly logical that they were driven to the circus by a transvestite prostitute.

for a brief phase, you were expected to absorb love (and get enough), and then, for a much longer and more serious phase, you were expected to fulfill certain obligations. When

This prevented Elaine from making up any stories about whomever I was seeing at the time, man or woman. Therefore, no one was falsely accused of shitting in the bed.