but good friends are nothing to each other if they are not supportive. John Irving More Quotes by John Irving More Quotes From John Irving I have no respect for the right-to-life position, though I have every respect for an individual who says, "I could never have that procedure, I could never see a film or read a book about that procedure." It doesn't bother me if people feel that way. John Irving book people way Before I began The Cider House Rules, I thought I wanted to write about a father-son relationship that was closer, more conflicted, and ultimately more loving, than most. Then I began to think of a relationship between an old orphanage director and an unadoptable orphan - a kid who goes out into the world and fails and keeps coming back, so that the old guy ends up with someone he's got to keep. John Irving writing father kids I believe in rules of behavior, and I'm quite interested in stories about the consequences of breaking those rules. John Irving behavior stories believe I was brought up in a community, in a family that valued such things as good manners, and I still do. John Irving good-man community manners I believe a novel should be as complicated and involved as you're capable of making it. John Irving complicated should believe I'm a very old-fashioned novelist. I write 19th-century novels, where a lot of rules apply. John Irving novelists century writing When you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion. John Irving freedom-of-religion violation belief I still believe in getting married in churches and baptizing children. I go through those motions. John Irving church believe children If you feel so strongly about what's on television, don't have one. John Irving ifs feels television I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character. John Irving situation interest character We permit bad taste in this country. In fact, we even encourage it - and reward it in all manner of ways. John Irving rewards country way Ted Seabrooke, my wrestling coach, had a kind of Nietzschean effect on me in terms of not just his estimation of my limited abilities, but his decidedly philosophical stance about how to conduct your life, what you should do to compensate for your limitations. This was essential to me, both as a student - and not a good one - and as a wrestler who was not a natural athlete but who had found something he loved. John Irving philosophical athlete wrestling If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one. John Irving abortion feels people I grew up in a family where, through my teenage years, I was expected to go to church on Sunday. It wasn't terribly painful. John Irving teenage sunday years If you asked me one day, I might say, "Well, sometimes I feel a little bit religious." If you asked me another day, I'd just say flat out, "No." John Irving another-day one-day religious It seems to me that a great deal of this type of censorship has to do with absolving parents of responsibility - parents who just plop their kids in front of the television and leave them there hour upon hour. John Irving parent responsibility kids I always know more about the ending, even the aftermath to the ending, than I know about the beginning. And so there's a construction that works from back to front. John Irving aftermath construction knows If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one. But we are a country - USA - that likes to be punitive. We want to restrict. It is a kind of religious fervor run amuck. John Irving religious running country I have always believed that, in a story, if something traumatic or calamitous enough happens to a kid at a formative age, that will make him or her the adult they become. John Irving adults age kids You don't want to be ungenerous toward people who give you prizes, but it is never the social or political message that interests me in a novel. I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character. John Irving giving character people
