I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to know what happens. I mean that I have to hear the actual sentences. I have to know what…

Quote by John Irving

Topics: John Irving Quotes

I think the sport of wrestling, which I became involved with at the age of...

I think the sport of wrestling, which I became involved with at the age of...

The building of the architecture of a novel - the craft of it - is...

The building of the architecture of a novel - the craft of it - is...

There's no reason you shouldn't, as a writer, not be aware of the necessity to...

There's no reason you shouldn't, as a writer, not be aware of the necessity to...

Oh FUCK the longings and agonies of youth.

Oh FUCK the longings and agonies of youth.

Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply files things away....

Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply files things away....

No adult in my family would ever tell me anything about who my father was....

No adult in my family would ever tell me anything about who my father was....

I suppose I'm proudest of my novels for what's imagined in them. I think the...

I suppose I'm proudest of my novels for what's imagined in them. I think the...

Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for...

Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for...

There's no reason you should write any novel quickly.

There's no reason you should write any novel quickly.

I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I...

I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I...

Half my life is an act of revision.

Half my life is an act of revision.

And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence...

And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence...

I have pretty thick skin, and I think if you're going to be in this...

I have pretty thick skin, and I think if you're going to be in this...

Sigmund Freud was a novelist with a scientific background. He just didn't know he was...

Sigmund Freud was a novelist with a scientific background. He just didn't know he was...

There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep.

There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep.

I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I...

I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I...

You can't learn everything you need to know legally.

You can't learn everything you need to know legally.

And I find - I'm 63, and my capacity to be by myself and just...

And I find - I'm 63, and my capacity to be by myself and just...

More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer...

More than a half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer...

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.