John Irving Quotes - Page 10

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• Because who can describe that look that triggers the memory of loved ones? Who can anticipate the frown, the smile, or the misplaced lock of hair that sends a swift, undeniable signal from the past? Who can ever estimate the power of association, which is always strongest in moments of love and in memories of death?

  John Irving

  Memories, Past, Hair

  John Irving (2012). “A Widow For One Year”, p.100, Random House

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• And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence until all the important connections in the novel are known to me. As if the story has already taken place, and it's my responsibility to put it in the right order to tell it to you.

  John Irving

  Taken, Responsibility, Writing

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• I have learned that the consequences of our past actions are always interesting; I have learned to view the present with a forward-looking eye.

  John Irving

  Eye, Past, Views

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

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• Wrestling was my first success, the first thing that confirmed that I could be good at anything. Devoting yourself to wrestling, or tennis, or skiing, or dance, or to a musical instrument is a longing to be disciplined for a purpose.

  John Irving

  Wrestling, Tennis, Musical

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• What a phrase that is: 'that explains everything!' I know better than to think anything 'explains everything' today.

  John Irving

  Thinking, Phrases, Today

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

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• In an episodic treatment, such as a teleplay is, you have the ability to do what you can do in a novel, which is flash back and flash forward in the same instant, in the same scene, in the same voice.

  John Irving

  Voice, Scene, Treatment

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it - rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened.

  John Irving

  Writing, Stories, Want

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• It seems to me that people who don’t learn as easily as others suffer from a kind of learning disability—there is something different about the way they comprehend unfamiliar material—but I fail to see how this disability is improved by psychiatric consultation. What seems to be lacking is a technical ability that those of us called ‘good students’ are born with. Someone should concretely study these skills and teach them. What does a shrink have to do with the process?

  John Irving

  Skills, People, Suffering

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• No one but me ever put a hand on me to feel that baby. No one wanted to put his ear against it and listen...You shouldn't have a baby if there's no one who wants to feel it kick or listen to it move.

  John Irving

  Baby, Moving, Hands

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• She sat keenly white and still among them, a witness to everything--maybe determining nothing, possibly judging it all.

  John Irving

  White, Judging, Sat

  John Irving (2012). “The World According To Garp”, p.48, Random House

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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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• You cannot drive with your eyes in the rear-view mirror… But dignity is difficult to maintain. Stamina requires constant upkeep. Repetition is boring. And you pay for grace.

  John Irving

  Eye, Mirrors, Views

  John Irving (1996). “Trying to Save Piggy Sneed”, p.341, Arcade Publishing

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• … and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.

  John Irving

  Heart, Drs, Normal

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• All I say is: Let us leave les folles alone; let's just leave them be. Don't judge them. You are not superior to them - don't put them down.

  John Irving

  Judging, Tolerance, Superiors

  John Irving (2012). “In One Person: A Novel”, p.191, Simon and Schuster

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• Nearly everything seems a letdown after a writer has finished writing something.

  John Irving

  Writing, Scary, Letdowns

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

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• Grant us safe lodging, and holy rest,” Mrs. Grogan was saying, “and peace at last.” Amen, thought Wilbur Larch, the Saint of St. Cloud’s, who was seventy-something, and an ether addict, and who felt that he’d come a long way and still had a long way to go.

  John Irving

  Clouds, Long, Saint

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• The powerful wind swept his hair away from his face; he leaned his chest into the wind, as if he stood on the deck of a ship heading into the wind, slicing through the waves of an ocean he’d not yet seen.

  John Irving

  Powerful, Ocean, Hair

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• It's my experience that very few writers, young or old, are really seeking advice when they give out their work to be read. They want support; they want someone to say, "Good job."

  John Irving

  Jobs, Writing, Giving

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• Don’t you understand?” he would say, “You imagine the story better than I remember it.

  John Irving

  Stories, Remember, Imagine

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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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• They all settled into being the kind of friends when they heard from each other.... or when they occasionally got together. And when they were not in touch, they did not think of one another.

  John Irving

  Thinking, Together, Kind

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

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• When Jack Burns needed to hold his mother's hand, his fingers could see in the dark.

  John Irving

  Mom, Mother, Dark

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• Gender mattered a whole lot less to Shakespeare than it seems to matter to us.

  John Irving

  Matter, Gender, Whole

  John Irving (2012). “In One Person: A Novel”, p.80, Simon and Schuster

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• There is no straightforward negotiation with a four year old.

  John Irving

  Years, Four, Negotiation

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• But I often think that so-called glamorous people are just very busy people.

  John Irving

  Thinking, People, Busy

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