Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.

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...

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....

Sometimes that's a year, sometimes it's 18 months, where all I'm doing is taking notes....

Sometimes that's a year, sometimes it's 18 months, where all I'm doing is taking notes....

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....

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...

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...

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...

Good habits are worth being fanatical about.

Good habits are worth being fanatical about.

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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 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...

Half my life is an act of revision.

Half my life is an act of revision.

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...

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.