John Irving Quotes, Photos, and Miscellanea

Libby, who studies English Literature as a rising senior at a New England liberal arts college, runs JohnIrvingThings.

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As a child of the '90's, I was raised on Robin Williams' face and voice. Ferngully, Mrs. Doubtfire, and especially Hook made Williams one of my favorite actors from a young age. I can't help but pay tribute to the man who brought the first John Irving novel I read to life. My words are inadequate in this feat- describing the pain I feel from seeing such a bright light extinguishing itself. 

"You know, everybody dies. My parents died. Your father died. Everybody dies. I'm going to die too. So will you. The thing is, to have a life before we die. It can be a real adventure having a life."

John Irving, The World According to Garp

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Homer Wells, twenty-one, breathing in the steam from the hot tea, sat waiting for his life to begin.

John Irving, The Cider House Rules

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"Here in St. Cloud's," he wrote, to himself, "it is imperative to have good obstetrical procedure, and to be able to perform a dilatation and curettage. In other parts of the world, they learn how to drive and swim!"

John Irving, The Cider House Rules

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"I'm not saying it's right, you understand? I'm saying it's her choice- it's a woman's choice. She's got to have a choice you understand?" Larch asked.

John Irving, The Cider House Rules

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"Adolescence, " wrote Wilbur Larch. "Is it the first time in life we discover that we have something terrible to hide from those who love us?"

John Irving, The Cider House Rules

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Of the fall, Dr. Larch wrote: "In other parts of the world, fall is for the harvest; one gathers the fruits of spring and summer's labors. These fruits provide for the long slumber and the season of ungrowin that is called winter. But here in St. Cloud's, the fall is only five minutes long."

John Irving, The Cider House Rules

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I just love it when certain people feel free to tell writers what the correct words are. When I hear the same people use impact as a verb, I want to throw up!

John Irving, In One Person

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You shouldn't guess about someone's past; if you don't see any evidence of it, a person's past remains unknown to you.

John Irving, In One Person

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As research for Until I Find You John Irving gave a woman a tattoo.

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"The problems between the Montagues and the Capulets were not Romeo's and Juliet's problems," Miss Frost said. "Romeo and Juliet were the right people for each other; it was their families that were fucked up."

John Irving, In One Person

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In reading, as in writing, all one needed- that is, in order to have an utterly absorbing journey- was a believable but formidable relationship. What else, after all, did crushes- especially crushes on the wrong people- lead to?

John Irving, In One Person

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"But there are no 'wrong' people to have crushes on, Bill," Richard assured me. "You cannot will yourself to have, or not to have, a crush on someone."

John Irving, In One Person

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Oh, the winds of change; they do not blow gently into the small towns of northern New England.

John Irving, In One Person

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An updated chart of recurring themes in John Irving's novels, now including In One Person. 

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The sheer sloppiness of human relationships appalled him, especially those relationships to which he's brought a special responsibility and care. Brother-sister, brother-brother, child-parent, parent-child. What was the matter with human beings, that they made such a shambles out of these basic relationships?

John Irving, A Son of the Circus

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A universal code of defecation applies: if some people are shitting somewhere, others will shit there, too.

John Irving, A Son of the Circus