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He was too young to know that, in any novel with a reasonable amount of forethought, there were no coincidences.

John Irving

I have a friend who says that reviewers are the tickbirds of the literary rhinoceros-but he is being kind. Tickbirds perform a valuable service to the rhino and the rhino hardly notices the birds.
JOHN IRVING

Be Kind Bird Rhinos
Life is serious but art is fun!
JOHN IRVING

Art Fun Life
I don’t begin a novel until I have written, not just the last sentence, but usually, as a result thereof, many of the surrounding final paragraphs, so that in addition to knowing what happens, I know what the voice is.
JOHN IRVING

Finals Knowing Usually Voice
You cannot drive with your eyes in the rear-view mirror… But dignity is difficult to maintain. Stamina requires constant upkeep. Repetition is boring. And you pay for grace.
JOHN IRVING

Eye Mirrors Repetition Views
You can’t learn everything you need to know legally.
JOHN IRVING

Feet Knows Needs
Be serious. Life hurts. Reflect what hurts. I don’t mean that you can’t also be funny, or have fun, but at the end of the day, stories are about what you lose.
JOHN IRVING

Fun Hurt Mean Stories
My life is a reading list.
JOHN IRVING

Life Lists Reading
Kids are beautiful, man. And they know much more than grownups think they know. Kids are just perfect people until grownups get their hands on them.
JOHN IRVING

Beautiful Kids Men
My brain is sending poison to my heart.
JOHN IRVING

Brain Heart Poison
Nothing bears out in practice what it promises incipiently.
JOHN IRVING

Bears Practice Promise
I’m not afraid, but I’m very nervous.
JOHN IRVING

Nervous Not Afraid People
Just when you begin thinking of yourself as memorable, you run into someone who can’t even remember having met you
JOHN IRVING

Memorable Running Thinking
I’ve always preferred writing in longhand. I’ve always written first drafts in longhand.
JOHN IRVING

Firsts Writing Written
If you presume to love something, you must love the process of it much more than you love the finished product.
JOHN IRVING

Finished Process Product
What a phrase that is: ‘that explains everything!’ I know better than to think anything ‘explains everything’ today.
JOHN IRVING

Phrases Thinking Today
If pride is a sin … moral pride is the greatest sin.
JOHN IRVING

Moral Pride Sin

He was too young to know that, in any novel with a reasonable amount of forethought, there were no coincidences.

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He was too young to know that, in any novel with a reasonable amount of forethought, there were no coincidences.

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Popular Authors

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