I had been a student in Vienna, and one of the neat little things I had found out was about that zoo. It was a good debut novel for me to have published. I was 26 or 27 when it…

Quote by John Irving

Topics: John Irving Quotes

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....

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

Oh FUCK the longings and agonies of youth.

Oh FUCK the longings and agonies of youth.

Good habits are worth being fanatical about.

Good habits are worth being fanatical about.

You know, people think you have to be dumb to skip rope for 45 minutes....

You know, people think you have to be dumb to skip rope for 45 minutes....

I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I...

I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I...

I've always been a fan of the 19th century novel, of the novel that is...

I've always been a fan of the 19th century novel, of the novel that is...

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...

Half my life is an act of revision.

Half my life is an act of revision.

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...

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....

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

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...

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...

To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We...

To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We...

When I was still in prep school - 14, 15 - I started keeping notebooks,...

When I was still in prep school - 14, 15 - I started keeping notebooks,...

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...

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 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...

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...