John Irving Quotes
I don't really set out to explore grand themes. I set out to tell a story. And one I have to be able to imagine right through.
Quotes to Explore
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One of the most sacred purposes for which the scriptures were written was to make it possible for all to know Christ. The scriptures teach and testify of Jesus Christ. They teach us much that we need to know and to do to return to the presence of the Savior.
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For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. Our friends seldom profit us but they make us feel safe. Marriage is a scheme to accomplish exactly that same end.
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The patient decides when it's best to go.
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Shakespeare's villains are fabulous because none of them know that they are villains. Well, sometimes they do.
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You shouldn't try to manufacture progress.
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I'm not attached to things at all. I'm very lucky to have quite a few beautiful things, but if I look back at my life, I was often happiest when I had very little.
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What is lost in the good or excellent translation is precisely the best.
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I was born and grew up in Fitzgerald, way down in south Georgia. It was a mill town and my family ran the cotton mill. My grandfather was mayor many times and my family felt deeply rooted to that spot.
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It is not known, now, for what length of time the Tuatha de Danaan had the sway over Ireland, and it is likely it was a long time they had it, but they were put from it at last.
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The aging process is totally minimizing. Life in general is pretty minimizing because you have a lot of big ideas, and you have to battle the mistaken delusions and instability that come with youth.
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Monsieur Saint Laurent was pathologically shy, and he made the Saint Laurent woman in his own image. Like her, I am shy. And to protect myself, I adopted something of an androgynous look, just as his women did.
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Sorry, I'm still a dialectical materialist.
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Politicians love power. I love freedom. That is why I am not a politician.
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A warrior is free to be a hero and pull off daring do and the soldier is irresponsible if he does it.
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Too often, campaigns are all flash and no substance.
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I'm from a very small village in the middle of nowhere, four hours by airplane from Moscow. Yemanzhelinsk - you wouldn't find it on the map. Don't even try it. It's super, super tiny.
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New York's definitely got my heart.
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The problem with dragons is that everyone uses them. All the time. When that happens, they become commonplace. A lot of people think you can just throw them into a story and suddenly whatever you're writing is 28% cooler. But that doesn't work. All that does is make dragons into some boring cliche.
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My soul is not my own any more. I cannot live like I want to. I am going to give up films.
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Ever since I was a kid, I've always thought it very important to be happy inside. There's a lot of bad things happening in the world, but it's important to try to stay happy and appreciate what you've got, and don't look externally for the happiness.
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I understand how you could see something in the root of a tree, a crack in the wall, in an eroded stone or pebble. But marble? It comes off in blocks and doesn't evoke any image. It does not inspire.
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I went through a phase when I was watching a lot of foreign films, just itching to get out of the suburbs and explore.
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Historically, moves to new ways of moral decision making depend on and occur in pockets of people of good will, who can explore with each other novel ways of relating without threatening or being threatened.
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I don't really set out to explore grand themes. I set out to tell a story. And one I have to be able to imagine right through.
