Owen Meany Quotes

• Never confuse faith, or belief — of any kind — with something even remotely intellectual.

  John Irving

  Intellectual, Belief, Kind

  John Irving (2012). “A Prayer For Owen Meany”, p.537, Random House

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• When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time—the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes—when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone, forever—there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.

  John Irving

  Death, Grief, Loss

  John Irving (1989). “A prayer for Owen Meany: a novel”, William Morrow & Co

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• 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!

  John Irving

  Memories, Thinking, Monsters

  John Irving (2012). “A Prayer For Owen Meany”, p.46, Random House

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• If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.

  John Irving

  Life, Courage, Love You

  John Irving (2012). “The World According To Garp”, p.605, Random House

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• I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice. Not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God. I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.

  John Irving

  Christian, Mother, Believe

  FaceBook post by John Irving from Feb 06, 2014

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• Watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean - make sure they know what they mean!

  John Irving

  Religious, Mean, People

  John Irving (1989). “A prayer for Owen Meany: a novel”, William Morrow & Co

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• In increments both measurable and not, our childhood is stolen from us -- not always in one momentous event but often in a series of small robberies, which add up to the same loss.

  John Irving

  Loss, Childhood, Events

  John Irving (2012). “In One Person: A Novel”, p.260, Simon and Schuster

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• The only way you get Americans to notice anything is to tax them or draft them or kill them.

  John Irving

  Way, Taxes

  John Irving (1989). “A prayer for Owen Meany: a novel”, William Morrow & Co

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• but good friends are nothing to each other if they are not supportive.

  John Irving

  Good Friend, Supportive, Ifs

  John Irving (1989). “A prayer for Owen Meany: a novel”, William Morrow & Co

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• Owen Meany believed that “coincidence” was a stupid, shallow refuge sought by stupid, shallow people who were unable to accept the fact that their lives were shaped by a terrifying and awesome design – more powerful and unstoppable than the Yankee Flyer. (a train)

  John Irving

  Powerful, Stupid, Yankees

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• 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.

  John Irving

  Christian, Easter, Believe

  John Irving (2012). “A Prayer For Owen Meany”, p.294, Random House

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• You think you have a memory; but it has you!

  John Irving

  Memories, Thinking

  John Irving (2012). “A Prayer for Owen Meany: A Novel”, p.28, Harper Collins

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• You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

  John Irving

  Psychology, Obsession, Obsessed

  John Irving (1986). “The Hotel New Hampshire”

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• Imagining something is better than remembering something.

  John Irving

  Philosophy, Remember

  John Irving (1978). “The world according to Garp”, Pocket

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• It is amazing to me, now, how such wild imaginings and philosophies - inspired by a night charged with frights and calamities - made such perfectly good sense to Owen Meany and me, but good friends are nothing to each other if they are not supportive.

  John Irving

  Best Friend, Philosophy, Good Friend

  John Irving (2012). “A Prayer For Owen Meany”, p.269, Random House

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• Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.

  Frederick Buechner

  Destroying Me, Doubt, Would Be

  Frederick Buechner (1970). “The alphabet of grace”

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• It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change.

  John Irving

  Responsibility, Faults, Mines

  John Irving (2012). “A Prayer For Owen Meany”, p.313, Random House

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• Owen meany who rarely wasted words and who had the conversation-stopping habit of dropping remarks like coins into a deep pool of water... remarks that sank, like truth, to the bottom of the pool where they would remain untouchable.

  John Irving

  Water, Stopping, Coins

  John Irving (2012). “A Prayer for Owen Meany: A Novel”, p.31, Harper Collins

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• I think that was when the headmaster realized he had lost; he realized then that he was finished. Because, what could he do? Was he going to tell us to stop praying? We kept our heads bowed; and we kept praying. Even as awkward as he was, the Rev. Mr. Merrill had made it clear to us that there was no end to praying for Owen Meany.

  John Irving

  Thinking, Awkward, Praying

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• In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases

  John Irving

  World, Cases, Terminal

  The World According to Garp ch. 19 (1978)

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• This was not of the nature of a Christlike lesson for Owen Meany to learn, as he lay in the manger, that someone you hate can give you a hard-on.

  John Irving

  Hate, Giving, Lessons

  John Irving (2012). “A Prayer For Owen Meany”, p.229, Random House

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