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Quote by John Irving

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Trying to Save Piggy Sneed: 20th Anniversary Edition

This 20th anniversary edition of the novel 'Trying to Save Piggy Sneed' commemorates the original work's enduring popularity. The story delves into the complexities of human relationships and the trials faced by its characters, offering a poignant look at the nature of friendship and the challenges of life. more

Author

John Irving
John Irving

John Irving is an American novelist known for his intricate narrative structures and profound character development. His works often explore themes of family, love, morality, and identity, enjoying great popularity among readers. more

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“Waste cannot be accurately told, though we are sensible how destructive it is. Economy, on the one hand, by which a certain income is made to maintain a man genteelly; and waste, on the other, by which on the same income another man lives shabbily, cannot be defined. It is a very nice thing; as one man wears his coat out much sooner than another, we cannot tell how.”

“It is generally allowed, that no man ever found the happiness of possession proportionate to that expectation which incited his desire, and invigorated his pursuit; nor has any man found the evils of life so formidable in reality, as they were described to him by his own imagination; every species of distress brings with it some peculiar supports, some unforeseen means of resisting, or powers of enduring.”

“At present we can only reason of the divine justice from what we know of justice in man. When we are in other scenes, we may have truer and nobler ideas of it; but while we are in this life, we can only speak from the volume that is laid open before us.”

“Fear guides more to their duty than gratitude; for one man who is virtuous from the love of virtue, from the obligation he thinks he lies under to the Giver of all, there are ten thousand who are good only from their apprehension of punishment.”