John Irving
John Irving
John Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth2 March 1942
CountryUnited States of America
religious practice two
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.
liars men said
All men are liars, said Roberta Muldoon, who knew this was true because she had once been a man.
kids responsibility parent
It seems to me that a great deal of this type of censorship has to do with absolving parents of responsibility - parents who just plop their kids in front of the television and leave them there hour upon hour.
rhinos bird be-kind
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.
memories thinking monsters
Your memory is a monster; it summons with will of its own. You think you have a memory, but it has you.
beautiful kids men
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.
people abortion
If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one.
book reading school
In a school community, someone who reads a book for some secretive purpose, other than discussing it, is strange. What was she reading for?
people abortion catholic
I have no respect for the right-to-life position. But when you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion. The Catholic Church may espouse its opinion on abortion to the members of its congregation. But they are in violation of separation of church and state when they try to proselytize their abortion politics on people who are not Catholics.
children expectations attention
She felt detached from her family, and thought it strange how they had lavished so much attention on her, as a child, and then at some appointed, prearranged time they seemed to stop the flow of affection and being the expectations - as if, for a brief phrase, you were expected to absorb love (and get enough), and then, for a much longer and more serious phase, you were expected to fulfill certain obligations.
writing novel
I'm a very old-fashioned novelist. I write 19th-century novels, where a lot of rules apply.
process finished ifs
If you presume to love something, you must love the process of it much more than you love the finished product.
thinking skins actors
I have pretty thick skin, and I think if you're going to be in this business, if you're going to be an actor or a writer, you better have a thick skin.
responsibility faults owen-meany
It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change.