Quotes from John Irving

Encore des conneries dans le fond du jardin

I'm a little sensitive to the subject of the deaths of aunts in my novels. Unkind critics have complained how I dispatch, or dispose of, the unlikable aunts in my fiction, but these critics never knew Aunt Abigail or Aunt Martha. Any deus ex machina device would not be too improbable for them.)

TAKE ALMOST ANYTHING FROM JUDE THE OBSCURE. HOW ABOUT THAT TERRIBLE LITTLE PRAYER THAT JUDE REMEMBERS FALLING ASLEEP TO, WHEN HE WAS A CHILD? "TEACH ME TO LIVE, THAT I MAY DREAD "THE GRAVE AS LITTLE AS MY BED. "TEACH ME TO DIE

One thing," Father said. Susie the bear put her paw on my hand, as if even Susie knew what was coming. "Just one thing," Father said. We were very quiet, waiting for this. "It mustn't look like Sorrow," Father said. "And you've got the eyes, so you've got to pick out the dog. Just make sure it in no way resembles Sorrow." —

Imaginer les choses vaut mieux que se les rappeler », avait écrit Garp.

we tend to think that if you don't know where you're going, you don't belong where you are.

One day, Jenny Fields thought, she would like to have a baby – just one.

My armadillo had been amputated to resemble Watahantowet's totem, the tragic and mysterious armless man—for weren't the Indians wise enough to understand that everything had its own soul, its own spirit? It was Owen Meany who told me that only white men are vain enough to believe that human beings are unique because we have souls.

ONE DAY THERE WILL COME AN EPIDEMIC—I'LL BET ON SOME HUMDINGER OF A SEXUAL DISEASE. AND WHAT WILL OUR PEERLESS LEADERS, OUR HEADS OF CHURCH AND STATE … WHAT WILL THEY SAY TO US? HOW WILL THEY HELP US? YOU CAN BE SURE THEY WON'T CURE US

A cripple's life is one of watching others do what he can't do

Here is what Owen Meany (and the armadillo) said: "GOD HAS TAKEN YOUR MOTHER. MY HANDS WERE THE INSTRUMENT. GOD HAS TAKEN MY HANDS. I AM GOD'S INSTRUMENT

Even if there is only death after death (after death), be grateful for small favors—sometimes there is birth after sex, for example. And, if you are very fortunate, sometimes there is sex after birth! Oh yeth, as Alice Fletcher would have said. And if you have life, said Garp's eyes, there is hope you'll have energy. And never forget, there is memory

Did having a dog make you less political?

The Harry Lime Theme"—

YOU HAVE REALLY MISJUDGED THEM," he lectured me. "PERHAPS WHAT YOU CALL THEIR WILDNESS IS JUST A MATTER OF LACK OF DIRECTION. SOMEONE HAS TO GIVE ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE DIRECTION, YOU KNOW.

The Third Man Theme

Wit isn't tentative; therefore, neither is it young. Wit is one of many aspects of life and literature that is far easier to recognize onstage than in a book. My students are always missing the wit in what they read, or else they do not trust it; onstage, even an amateur actor can make anyone see what wit is.

Kai yra kur paganyti akis, atsiranda pla?ios perspektyvos ir sielai, <...>.

Bogus wondered what he could have thought he wanted. But the kitchen was far too flurried for thinking; bodies were everywhere. So what if dog puke still lurked unseen in the laundry room! In good company we can be brave. Mindful of his scars, his old harpoons and things, Bogus Trumper smiled cautiously at all the good flesh around him.

Heavy hearts, much like heavy clouds in the sky, are relieved by the letting of water.

Das Leben ist leider nicht so gebaut wie ein guter, altmodischer Roman. Vielmehr endet es, wenn sich diejenigen, die sich erschöpfen sollen, erschöpft haben. Alles, was bleibt, ist die Erinnerung.

Most of the new recruits were on their way to Fort Huachuca; their hair was cut so short, you could see scabs from the razor nicks—most of them who were assigned to Fort Huachuca would probably be on orders to Vietnam soon. "They look like babies," I said to Owen. "BABIES FIGHT THE WARS," said Owen Meany

He seemed only slightly intimidated by my muscles; he had an arrogance larger than most people's hearts and minds.

What do Americans know about morality? They don't want their presidents to have penises but they don't mind if their presidents covertly arrange to support the Nicaraguan rebel forces after Congress has restricted such aid; they don't want their presidents to deceive their wives but they don't mind if their presidents deceive Congress—lie to the people and violate the people's constitution!