John Irving Quotes

I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to know what happens. I mean that I have to hear the actual sentences. I have to know what atmosphere the words convey.

John Irving

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Quotes to Explore

• Before I was 5, I did have a lot of time on my hands. I had no job and really no career, and I spent an awful lot of time listening to records. It was more the classical ones, really - Prokofiev, and I think there was some Mozart in there, and more impressionistic composers like Delius.

  

  Wallace Shawn
  • Time
  • Job
  • Career

• I never did a dirty armpit. You can look dirty, but you can't be dirty.

  

  Kate Moss
  • You
  • Never
  • Look

• The problem of the minimum dwelling is that of establishing the elementary minimum of space, air, light, and heat required by man in order that he be able to fully develop his life functions without experiencing limitations due to his dwelling, i.e. a minimum modus vivendi in place of a modus non moriendi.

  

  Walter Gropius
  • Life
  • Man
  • Light

• I went in and auditioned for one of the main guys for 'The League' when it was first casting, and I was so excited because I was like, 'Oh my God, this is my life!' I love fantasy football, and I play with my buddies, and my wife is frustrated with it.

  

  Ike Barinholtz
  • Life
  • God
  • Love

• Every teenager and everybody around the ages from 10 to 18 has to go through finding out who they are.

  

  Sammi Hanratty
  • Teenager
  • Go
  • Through

• Perfect partners don't exist. Perfect conditions exist for a limited time in which partnerships express themselves best.

  

  Wayne Rooney
  • Time
  • Perfect
  • Best

• Honestly, I try and stay away from what's been written about me, because if you let that stuff get to you and it's not true it can drive you crazy. One thing that I have heard recently which is not true, I didn't say it, is that I believe I was quote saying 'I will never take my shirt off for a movie again.' I didn't say that.

  

  Taylor Lautner
  • Believe
  • True
  • Crazy

• Italy and France could lop off their excessive wealth through a one-time tax on private wealth.

  

  Edmund Phelps
  • Time
  • Wealth
  • Tax

• Throughout out history, when people have looked for new ways to solve their problems, and to uphold the principles of this nation, many times they have turned to political parties. They have often turned to the Democratic Party.

  

  Barbara Jordan
  • People
  • History
  • Political

• If we want to preserve Heathrow's hub status, we need to stop clogging it up with point-to-point flights to places such as Cyprus and Greece, which between them account for 87 weekly flights, and contribute nothing to overall connectivity.

  

  Zac Goldsmith
  • Up
  • Want
  • Stop

• Comics are too big. You can't say any kind or genre of comics is better than another. You can say so subjectively. But to say it like it's objective is wrong. It's wrong morally, because it cuts out stuff that's good.

  

  Ted Rall
  • Good
  • You
  • Better

• There's an awareness of fashion in this country, and it's not limited to gay people.

  

  Calvin Klein
  • People
  • Country
  • Fashion

• I don't have a lot of skills, but one thing I can do is, I can compartmentalize. I can make that a little world that I can go back to, so I can be a waitress, or I can be a teacher, and then go and work on my book.

  

  Dana Spiotta
  • World
  • Work
  • Book

• We are all the heroes and heroines of our own lives. Our love stories are amazingly romantic; our losses and betrayals and disappointments are gigantic in our own minds.

  

  Maeve Binchy
  • Love
  • Romantic
  • For Her

• I don't think the elite class is only speaking the good English.

  

  Mamata Banerjee
  • Good
  • Think
  • English

• I love playing a woman suffering, thinking about the choices that she's made and obviously wanting more. It's classic.

  

  Parker Posey
  • Woman
  • Suffering
  • Choices

• Sometimes you think you aren't a good mama; you always feel a bit guilty when you're a mom. You want to be everywhere.

  

  Carine Roitfeld
  • Good
  • Think
  • Mom

• I've been sent lots of lovely gifts - everything from candy and peanut butter to hand-made quilts, pictures, and clothing. I was once sent a crate of avocados. Fortunately, I love them.

  

  Sam Heughan
  • Love
  • Hand
  • Candy

• I know how to have a conversation, but I've never done improv. I've never taken improv classes.

  

  Brie Larson
  • Done
  • Taken

• Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

  

  Percy Bysshe Shelley
  • Life
  • Fall

• I believe in leavening. You can't have words sticking out too much, like promontories. They disturb the density. You have to flatten them, or raise the surrounding terrain.

  

  Ben Okri
  • Believe
  • Words

• Those who wish well towards their friends disdain to please them with words which are not true.

  

  J_K_Bharavi
  • Friends
  • True
  • Words

• What haunts me is not exactly the absence of literal space so much as a deep craving for metaphorical space: release, escape, some kind of open-ended freedom.

  

  Naomi Klein
  • Freedom
  • Space
  • Deep

• I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to know what happens. I mean that I have to hear the actual sentences. I have to know what atmosphere the words convey.

  

  John Irving
  • Words