John Irving Quotes

Sigmund Freud was a novelist with a scientific background. He just didn't know he was a novelist. All those damn psychiatrists after him, they didn't know he was a novelist either.
John Irving

Him, After, Either

So, I don't work in terms of real time. I don't work in a timely fashion.
John Irving

Work, Time, Real

Sometimes that's a year, sometimes it's 18 months, where all I'm doing is taking notes. I'm reconstructing the story from the back to the front so that I know where the front is.
John Irving

Sometimes, Year, Story

The building of the architecture of a novel - the craft of it - is something I never tire of.
John Irving

Building, Novel, Craft

There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep.
John Irving

Real, Child, Few

There's no reason you should write any novel quickly.
John Irving

Reason, Write, Novel

There's no reason you shouldn't, as a writer, not be aware of the necessity to revise yourself constantly.
John Irving

Yourself, Reason, Writer

Whatever I write, no matter how gray or dark the subject matter, it's still going to be a comic novel.
John Irving

Dark, Matter, Whatever

When I feel like being a director, I write a novel.
John Irving

Write, Director, Novel

When I was still in prep school - 14, 15 - I started keeping notebooks, journals. I started writing, almost like landscape drawing or life drawing. I never kept a diary, I never wrote about my day and what happened to me, but I described things.
John Irving

Life, School, Writing

Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.
John Irving

Writing, Keep, Write

You don't want to dwell on your enemies, you know. I basically feel so superior to my critics for the simple reason that they haven't done what I do. Most book reviewers haven't written 11 novels. Many of them haven't written one.
John Irving

Simple, Book, Done

You know, people think you have to be dumb to skip rope for 45 minutes. No, you have to be able to imagine something else. While you're skipping rope, you have to be able to see something else.
John Irving

Else, Able, While

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Biography

Nationality: American

Born: March 2, 1942

Links

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Cite this Page: Citation

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