All men are liars, said Roberta Muldoon, who knew this was true because she had once been a man.
John IrvingThis is what self-centered religion does to us: it allows us to use it to further our own ends.
John IrvingIf I have any advantage, maybe, as a writer, it is that I don't think I'm very interesting. I mean, beginning a novel with the last sentence is a pretty plodding way to spend your life.
John IrvingThere was no manifestation of contemporary culture that did not indicate to my grandmother how steadfast was the nation's decline, how merciless our mental and moral deterioration, how swiftly all-embracing our final decadence. I never saw her read a book again; but she referred to books often - as if they were shrines and cathedrals of learning that television had plundered and then abandoned.
John Irving