John Irving Quotes
I think the sport of wrestling, which I became involved with at the age of 14... I competed until I was 34, kind of old for a contact sport. I coached the sport until I was 47. I think the discipline of wrestling has given me the discipline I have to write.
Quotes to Explore
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I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
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Anytime you have a tight race and you lose, it's not pleasant.
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Your feelings so are important to write down, to capture, and to remember because today you're heartbroken, but tomorrow you'll be in love again.
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An unlimited America was the vision for the nation set forth by our Founding Fathers. It is the vision enshrined in those two great charters of freedom: our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. Many of America's most intractable problems stem from the fact that we have strayed from that vision - and lost direction.
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Surely it is time to examine into the meaning of words and the nature of things, and to arrive at simple facts, not received upon the dictum of learned authorities, but upon attentive personal observation of what is passing around us.
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The actual, original 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,' I have vague memories of because I was pretty small, but I loved, loved, loved it. I have only those weird, visceral little-kid memories: I remember the extreme flat, two dimensional green that was their skin or the weird pizza with no sauce - it was just like yellow, drippy cheese.
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I understand acting and I understand actors. I don't really understand the world of celebrity. That's just bizarre. Those sorts of elements I'm at sea with.
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It's like why people read scary books or go see scary movies. Because it creates a distance. They're scared, but they're not going to get hurt.
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I've been to parties in L.A. that are mind-blowing. I mean, quite literally mind-blowing. People get cellphones in the party bag, that sort of thing. Fabulous, fabulous parties.
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If a film is a huge hit, you do think properly before choosing your next projects.
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Life can be a bore if you're constantly walking sidewalks instead of a tightrope once in a while.
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You can find dozens of books about people taking the Trans-Siberian Railroad. I knew I had to do something different to cross Siberia. To drive and to talk with people along the way, that was how I wrote my book 'Great Plains'. I drove and camped in Siberia, but did not have a real program.
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If we want to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, it starts with a fair wage, adequate working conditions, and the resources and support to succeed. Remember: teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions.
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It was difficult to realize, 'I'm lieutenant governor.' And Brown appropriately reminded me of that.
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The extras are a nice bonus feature, but the main incentive is the musical experience.
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Islamism is not Islam. Islamism is the politicisation of Islam, the desire to impose a version of this ancient faith over society.
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All we have is our vote. But it's powerful.
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Some struggle is healthy. If you can embrace it rather than be angry, you can use it as your pilot light.
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At the end of the day, I think the most conservative principle there is, is giving people a dollar worth of value for a dollar worth of tax paid.
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The Wanderlust has got me... by the belly-aching fire
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What I'm trying to achieve with my surgery is my own personal satisfaction. It's narcissism.
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I have a 15-year-old daughter who thinks that I always had this self confidence that I have now at the age of 60. And I always tell her that what she is going through - the low self-esteem as a teenager - that is a right of passage.
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You can only understand the present age when it is past.
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I think the sport of wrestling, which I became involved with at the age of 14... I competed until I was 34, kind of old for a contact sport. I coached the sport until I was 47. I think the discipline of wrestling has given me the discipline I have to write.
