Top 78 Quotes by John Irving

I think that writers are, at best, outsiders to the society they inhabit. They have a kind of detachment, or try to have.

If you're still wondering about details - how am I going to get these two to meet, or whatever - when you're writing, you can't pay proper attention to the sentences themselves.

And I find - I'm 63, and my capacity to be by myself and just spend time by myself hasn't diminished any. That's the necessary part of being a writer, you better like being alone.

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

I get up early. I like to read a little before anyone but the dog is up. I also like to read at night, not in bed but just before I go to bed.

I lived five years in the Midwest, and I loved it. The people were so nice. The people were so open.

I find screenplays easy to write, my novels being very visual. You see what people look like. The physical action is described.

One of the humbling things about having written more than one novel is the sense that every time you begin, that new empty page does not know who you are.

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

I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I have nothing but sympathy for how people behave - and nothing but laughter to console them with.