Don't forget this, too: Rumors aren't interested in the unsensational story; rumors don't care what's true.
John IrvingThe building of the architecture of a novel - the craft of it - is something I never tire of.
John IrvingTHERE'S NO MONKEY BUSINESS ABOUT THIS ELECTION,' he told the voters. 'IF YOU'RE ENOUGH OF AN ASSHOLE TO VOTE FOR NIXON, YOUR DUMB VOTE WILL BE COUNTEDโโJUST LIKE ANYBODY ELSE!
John IrvingKnow the story before you fall in love with your first sentence. If you donโt know the story before you begin the story, what kind of a storyteller are you? Just an ordinary kind, just a mediocre kind โ making it up as you go along, like a common liar.
John IrvingIs 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!
John IrvingHe had heard her say, so many times, that a society that approved of making abortion illegal was a society that approved of violence against women; that making abortion illegal was simply a sanctimonious, self-righteous form of violence against women- it was just another way of legalizing violence against women, Nurse Caroline would say.
John Irving