Life is an X-rated soap opera.
JOHN IRVINGThere’s no reason you shouldn’t, as a writer, not be aware of the necessity to revise yourself constantly.
More John Irving Quotes
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but good friends are nothing to each other if they are not supportive.
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They were involved in that awkward procedure of getting to unknow each other.
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Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.
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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.
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It’s a no-win argument – that business of what we’re born with and what our environment does to us. And it’s a boring argument, because it simplifies the mysteries that attend both our birth and our growth.
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When I finally write the first sentence, I want to know everything that happens, so that I am not inventing the story as I write it – rather, I am remembering a story that has already happened.
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I am compulsive about writing, I need to do it the way I need sleep and exercise and food and sex; I can go without it for a while, but then I need it.
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I always thought that you could do worse than find yourself dying in the company of a devoted former student.
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It happens to many teenagers-that moment when you feel full of resentment or distrust for those adults you once loved unquestioningly.
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Everybody dies … The thing is, to have a life before we die.
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The unspoken factor is love. The reason I can work so hard at my writing is that it’s not work for me.
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Don’t forget this, too: Rumors aren’t interested in the unsensational story; rumors don’t care what’s true.
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Religious freedom should work two ways: we should be free to practice the religion of our choice, but we must also be free from having someone else’s religion practiced on us.
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Life forces enough final decisions on us. We should have the sense to avoid as many of the unnecessary ones as we can.
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But I often think that so-called glamorous people are just very busy people.
JOHN IRVING