I'm a very old-fashioned novelist. I write 19th-century novels, where a lot of rules apply. John Irving More Quotes by John Irving More Quotes From John Irving If watching television doesn't hasten death, it surely manages to make death very inviting; for television so shamelessly sentimentalizes and romanticizes death that it makes the living feel they have missed something - just by staying alive. John Irving alivefeelstelevision Sometimes that's a year, sometimes it's 18 months, where all I'm doing is taking notes. I'm reconstructing the story from the back to the front so that I know where the front is. John Irving monthsstoriesyears 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 mirrorseyeviews I don’t have to say to you or anyone in our WRESTLING community that we are a small world unto ourselves and there is often a big difference in how much we love and understand each other and how little we’re understood or appreciated by people who spend their weekends watching basketball. John Irving weekendbasketballwrestling … 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 drsnormalheart … but only because exhaustion is a life-sign; it is at least a form of being human. John Irving being-humanformhumans Plot is a map and I begin with it. It is what made me admire the novels of the 19th century; that the stories are foreshadowed. TheyÕre going someplace. John Irving mapscreativewriting When people say that German or any other language is romantic... all they really mean is that they've enjoyed a past in the language John Irving meanpeoplepast A personal injustice is stronger motivation than any instinct for philanthropy. John Irving injusticestrongermotivation Because abortions are illegal, women who need and want them have no choice in the matter, and you-because you know how to perform them-have no choice, either John Irving abortionchoiceswant 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 saintcloudslong 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 powerfuloceanhair You know, people think you have to be dumb to skip rope for 45 minutes. No, you have to be able to imagine something else. While you're skipping rope, you have to be able to see something else. John Irving dumbpeoplethinking If I have any advantage, maybe, as a writer, it is that I don't think I'm very interesting. I mean, beginning a novel with the last sentence is a pretty plodding way to spend your life. John Irving meaninterestingthinking 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 storieswantwriting 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 tennismusicalwrestling What a phrase that is: 'that explains everything!' I know better than to think anything 'explains everything' today. John Irving phrasestodaythinking Almost everyone is dying to leave home, eventually; and almost everyone needs to. John Irving dyinghomeneeds ...I suddenly realized what small towns are. They are places where you grow up with the peculiar-you live next door to the strange and the unlikely for so long that everything and everyone become commonplace. John Irving growing-updoorslong The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life led by human beings; the second was that human beings could survive a life in hotels. John Irving bearsfatherfirsts
