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The characters in my novels, from the very first one, are always on some quixotic effort of attempting to control something that is uncontrollable - some element of the world that is essentially random and out of control.

John Irving

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John Irving
Age: 82
Born: 1942
Born: March 2
Novelist
Screenwriter
Writer
Exeter
New Hampshire
John Winslow Irving
Firsts
Essentially
First
Element
Something
Elements
Always
Characters
Quixotic
World
Novel
Uncontrollable
Control
Random
Effort
Attempting
Character
Novels

More quotes by John Irving

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You're nice,' Cushie told him, squeezing his hand. 'And you're my oldest friend.' But they both must have known that you can know someone all your life and never quite be friends.
John Irving
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I'm not at all contemporary, not even modern, and the fact that I would be so quaintly attracted to that wrestling rule makes me, I suppose, seem all the more old-fashioned. I believe in rules of behavior, and I'm quite interested in stories about the consequences of breaking those rules.
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… but only because exhaustion is a life-sign it is at least a form of being human.
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There's no reason you should write any novel quickly.
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We often need to lose sight of our priorities in order to see them.
John Irving
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. . .There are moments when time does stop. We must be alert enough to notice such moments . . .
John Irving
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Life is an X-rated soap opera.
John Irving
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Whereas she wished more of the population were better educated, she also believed that education was largely wasted on the majority of the people she met.
John Irving
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My brain is sending poison to my heart.
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The more clearly one sees this world the more one is obliged to pretend it does not exist.
John Irving
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Sell my old clothes - I'm off to heaven
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I do know where I'm going and it's just a matter of finding the language to get there.
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but writers, Garp knew, were just observers - good and ruthless imitators of human behavior.
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If you presume to love something, you must love the process of it much more than you love the finished product.
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If pride is a sin ... moral pride is the greatest sin.
John Irving
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You think you have a memory but it has you!
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Writing is hard. I learned how to work hard from wrestling, not English courses.
John Irving
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You can learn a lot from your lovers, but-for the most part-you get to keep your friends longer, and you learn more from them.
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My life is a reading list.
John Irving
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I have always believed that, in a story, if something traumatic or calamitous enough happens to a kid at a formative age, that will make him or her the adult they become.
John Irving