I have learned that the consequences of our past actions are always interesting; I have learned to view the present with a forward-looking eye.
("A Prayer for Owen Meany")
More Quotes from John Irving:
Because I was a Wheelwright-and, therefore, a New England snob-I'd assumed that Phoenix was largely composed of Mormons and Baptists and Republicans;John Irving
It's natural to want someone you love to do what you want, or what you think would be good for them, but you can't interfere with people you love anymore than you're supposed to interfere with people you don't even know.
John Irving
Among adults - and among orphans - Wilbur Larch noted that delirious happiness was rare.
John Irving
LAST NITE I HAD A DREAM. NOW I KNOW FOUR THINGS. I KNOW THAT MY VOICE DOESN'T CHANGE - BUT I STILL DON'T KNOW WHY. I KNOW THAT I AM GOD'S INSTRUMENT. I KNOW WHEN I'M GOING TO DIE - AND NOW A DREAM HAS SHOWN ME HOW I'M GOING TO DIE. I'M GOING TO BE A HERO! I TRUST THAT GOD WILL HELP ME, BECAUSE WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO DO LOOKS VERY HARD.
John Irving
Writing a novel is actually searching for victims. As I write I keep looking for casualties. The stories uncover the casualties.
John Irving
What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us are wrapped up in parentheses.
John Irving
Readers Who Like This Quotation Also Like:
Based on Topics: Actions Quotes, Present QuotesI think most people don't react well to being screamed at. It's counterproductive.
Dick Wolf
Great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion.
Robert Burton
I was for two years a pupil at the Model School in Fort street which was then conducted upon the Irish national system, and if any special religious instruction was given in connection with that system, I do not recollect it.
Edmund Barton