Being afraid you'll look like a coward is the worst reason for doing anything.

In the world according to her father, Jenny Garp knew, we must have energy. Her famous grandmother, Jenny Fields, once thought of us as Externals, Vital Organs, Absentees, and Goners. But in the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases.

Is it a democratic society that condemns people to the accident of conception? What are we-monkeys? If you expect people to be responsible for their children, you have to give them the right to choose whether or not to have children. What are you people thinking of? You're not only crazy! You're ogres!

Among adults – and among orphans – Wilbur Larch noted that delirious happiness was rare.

Life forces enough final decisions on us. We should have the sense to avoid as many of the unnecessary ones as we can.

I do know where I'm going and it's just a matter of finding the language to get there.

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