Quotessence
Home / Authors / John Irving
John Irving

John Irving Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsWritingPeopleKnowsNovelThinkingStoriesWantWayFeelsOwen MeanyEnoughShouldBookKindWorldBelieveSaidFirstsMemories

Famous John Irving Quotes

“I have a process that I seem to always, to some degree, as a writer, adhere to, but I certainly have never imposed the way I write a novel on my students. When I had students, I never said, "You should never start writing a novel until you have the last sentence." I never did that, and I wouldn't do it now, but people now seem so interested in the process [of writing fiction] that I have to constantly make it clear when I describe mine that I'm not being prescriptive. I'm not proselytizing.”

PeopleWayShouldWritingSaidSeemsLastsProcessFictionNovelClearStudentsMinesDegreesSentencesWriting FictionProselytizing
Author:John Irving
Create image

“And Father said, “There are no happy endings.” “Right!” cried Iowa Bob – an odd mixture of exuberance and stoicism in his cracked voice. “Death is horrible, final, and frequently premature,” Coach Bob declared. “So what?” my father said. “Right!” cried Iowa Bob. “That’s the point: So what?” Thus the family maxim was that an unhappy ending did not undermine a rich and energetic life. This was based on the belief that there were no happy endings.”

SaidFatherBeliefVoiceRichFinalsCoachesUnhappyHorribleOddBobCriedStoicismMaximsMixturesHappy EndingsEnergeticCrackedPrematureIowaExuberanceUnhappy Endings
Author:John Irving
Create image

“I want to go on being a student," I told him. "I want to be a teacher. I'm just a reader," I said. "DON'T SOUND SO ASHAMED," he said. "READING IS A GIFT." "I learned it from you," I told him. "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU LEARNED IT- IT'S A GIFT. IF YOU CARE ABOUT SOMETHING, YOU HAVE TO PROTECT IT. IF YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND A WAY OF LIFE YOU LOVE, YOU HAVE TO FIND THE COURAGE TO LIVE IT.”

IfsWayWantSaidMatterEnoughCareReadingSoundTeacherLove YouStudentsGoes OnReaderLuckyProtectAshamedIf You Care
Author:John Irving
Create image

“so my grandmother was not without humanity. and if she wore cocktail dresses when she labored in the garden, they were cocktail dresses she no longer intended to wear to cocktail parties. even in her rose garden she did not want to appear underdressed. if the dresses got too dirty from gardening, she threw them out. when my mother suggested to her that she might have them cleaned, my grandmother said, "what? and have those people at the cleaners what i was doing in a dress to make it that dirty?" from my grandmother i learned that logic is relative.”

PeopleIfsWantSaidMightMotherHumanityPartyGardenLogicDressesRoseDirtyGrandmotherRelativeGardeningMy GrandmotherCocktailsCleanersCocktail PartiesRose GardenCocktail Dresses
Author:John Irving
Create image

“I try to see the whole woman,' Eddie said to Hannah. 'Of course I recognize that she's old, but there are photographs - or the equivalent of photographs in one's imagination of anyone's life. A whole life, I mean. I can picture her when she was much younger than I am - because there are always gestures and expressions that are ingrained, ageless. An old woman doesn't see herself as an old woman, and neither do I. I try to see her her whole life in her. There's something so moving about someone's whole life.”

TryingMeanSaidI CanWholeMovingCoursesImaginationExpressionPhotographWhole LifeGesturesOld WomanAgeless
Author:John Irving
Create image

“Anyone can be sentimental about the nativity; any fool can feel like a Christian at Christmas. But Easter is the main event; if you don’t believe in the resurrection, you’re not a believer." “If you don’t believe in Easter,” Owen Meany said. “Don’t kid yourself—Don’t call yourself a Christian.”

IfsFeelsBelieveSaidKidsChristianEventsFoolDon't BelieveBelieverResurrectionSentimentalEasterNativityOwen Meany
Book:A Prayer For Owen Meany
Create image