You take every opportunity given you in this world, even if you have too many opportunities. One day, the opportunities stop, you know. John Irving More Quotes by John Irving More Quotes From John Irving I'm old-fashioned, a storyteller. I'm not an analyst and I'm not an intellectual. John Irving analystsold-fashionedintellectual I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft. John Irving writinglongbook I am compulsive about writing, I need to do it the way I need sleep and exercise and food and sex; I can go without it for a while, but then I need it. John Irving sleepwritingsex So, I don't work in terms of real time. I don't work in a timely fashion. John Irving fashiontermreal You bet I write disaster fiction. We have compiled a disastrous record on this planet, a record of stupidity and absurdity and self-abuse and self-aggrandizement and self-deception and pompousness and self-righteousness and cruelty and indifference beyond what any other species has demonstrated the capacity for, which is the capacity for all the above. John Irving stupidityselfwriting Along the (writing) way accidents happen, detours get taken... But these are not "divine" accidents; I don't believe in those. I believe you have constructive accidents en route through a novel only because you have mapped a clear way. If you have confidence that you have a clear direction to take, you always have confidence to explore other ways; if they prove to be mere digressions, you'll recognize that and make the necessary revisions. The more you know about a book, the freer you can be to fool around. The less you know, the tighter you get. John Irving takenbelievebook Writing is hard. I learned how to work hard from wrestling, not English courses. John Irving hard-workwritingwrestling Human sexuality makes farcical our most serious intentions. John Irving sexualityintentionserious There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep. John Irving realchildrenworld Most places we leave in childhood grow less, not more, fancy. John Irving childhoodfancygrows 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 good-friendbest-friendphilosophy If you can't love crudeness, how can you truly love mankind? John Irving mankindifs What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us wind up in parentheses. John Irving windlovepeople This is what self-centered religion does to us: it allows us to use it to further our own ends. John Irving useselfdoe Whatever I write, no matter how gray or dark the subject matter, it's still going to be a comic novel. John Irving matterdarkwriting There's no reason you shouldn't, as a writer, not be aware of the necessity to revise yourself constantly. John Irving no-reasonreason ...every study of the gods, of everyone's gods, is a revelation of vengeance towards the innocent. John Irving vengeanceinnocentstudy I certainly think Obama is the most hopeful president I've seen in the country since John Kennedy. John Irving hopefulcountrythinking I have lots of notebooks around, because one great advantage of writing by hand-in addition to how much it slows you down-is that it makes me write at the speed that I feel I should be composing, rather than faster than I can think, which is what happens to me on any keyboard. John Irving notebookwritingthinking There's no reason you should write any novel quickly. John Irving shouldreasonwriting
