To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We were just a family. In a family even exaggerations make perfect sense.

Quote by John Irving

Topics: John Irving Quotes

Good habits are worth being fanatical about.

Good habits are worth being fanatical about.

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...

I had been a student in Vienna, and one of the neat little things I...

I had been a student in Vienna, and one of the neat little things I...

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

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

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...

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....

Half my life is an act of revision.

Half my life is an act of revision.

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...

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...

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

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

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...

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...

Oh FUCK the longings and agonies of youth.

Oh FUCK the longings and agonies of youth.

You don't want to dwell on your enemies, you know. I basically feel so superior...

You don't want to dwell on your enemies, you know. I basically feel so superior...

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...

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

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....

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 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...