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fae72c4
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It's not God who's fucked up, it's the screamers who say they believe in Him and who claim to pursue their ends in His holy name!
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John Irving |
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2e20c75
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THERE'S LIFE ON EARTH, THERE'S HEAVEN--AND THERE'S HELL." "I think life on earth is hell," I said."
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John Irving |
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62a4c2b
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THE PRESIDENT IS ELECTED TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION; TO PUT THAT MORE BROADLY, HE'S CHOSEN TO UPHOLD THE LAW--HE'S NOT GIVEN A LICENSE TO OPERATE ABOVE THE LAW, HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE OUR EXAMPLE!" Remember that? Remember then?"
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John Irving |
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d126b55
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I know three things. I know that my voice doesn't change, and I know when I'm going to die. I wish I knew why my voice never changes, I wish I knew how I was going to die; but God has allowed me to know more than most people know--so I'm not complaining. The third thing I know is that I am God's instrument; I have faith that God will let me know what I'm supposed to do, and when I'm supposed to do it. Happy New Year!
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John Irving |
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cd4aae9
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while we waited to see what God would do. I heard a tear fall--it was one of my grandmother's tears, and I heard it patter upon the cover of the Pilgrim Hymnal, which she held in her lap. "Please give us back Owen Meany," Mr. Merrill said. When nothing happened, my father said: "O God--I shall keep asking You!" Then he once more turned to The Book of Common Prayer; it was unusual for a Congregationalist--especially, in a nondenominational c..
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John Irving |
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e03424e
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Rupinkites savo gyvenimu, - pasake Zajoncas Harvardo studentams. - Jeigu jau tiek pasiekete, jusu profesiniai reikalai turetu susitvarkyti savaime.
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John Irving |
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f1313c3
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That was when Angel Wells became a fiction writer, whether he knew it or not. That's when he learned how to make the make-believe matter to him more than real life mattered to him; that's when he learned how to paint a picture that was not real and never would be real, but in order to be believed at all--even on a sunny Indian summer day--it had to be better made and seem more real than real; it had to sound at least possible.
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John Irving |
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d146639
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One can't blame Marion for telling Eddie all the times of the day and the week she avoided. For instance, when children got out of school--not to mention all museums, all zoos. And parks in any decent weather, when the children would be sure to be there with their nannies or their parents; and every daytime baseball game--all Christmas shopping, too. What had she left out? All summer and winter resorts, the first warm days of the spring, th..
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John Irving |
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d94caa4
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And how do I say 'I miss you'? he wondered - when I don't mean 'I want to come back!'?
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John Irving |
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1a1b2a5
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drove
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John Irving |
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f637acf
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In short,I might take seriously the idea of service to my country when my country begins to demonstrate that it gives a shit about me!
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John Irving |
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8b0805b
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Merrill was most appealing because he reassured us that doubt was the essence of faith, and not faith's opposite.
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John Irving |
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0c5a40f
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Garpo zodziais tariant, "zmogus auga tik uzbaigdamas viena ir pradedamas kita"."
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John Irving |
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070c690
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In both classes, Pastor Merrill preached his doubt-is-the-essence-of-and-not-the-opposite-of-faith philosophy
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John Irving |
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6504c0f
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Preschool tests revealed that Jack Burns had a vocabulary beyond his years, which is not uncommon among only children accustomed to adult conversation - especially only children of single parents.
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John Irving |
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8325b7f
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She was intimidating to me in the way someone who never remembers your name can be intimidating. 'In this world,' Franny once observed, 'just when you're trying to think of yourself as memorable, there is always someone who forgets that they've met you.
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John Irving |
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974bf31
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It was his first understanding that physical attraction, even sexual desire, was stimulated by more than the perfection of a body, or the beauty of a face.
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John Irving |
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d60c88a
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As Jack would discover, it's remarkable how you can miss people you barely knew - even those people you never especially liked.
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John Irving |
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fdd81e1
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If you can't forgive your mother, Jack, you'll never be free of her. It's for your own sake, you know - for your soul. When you forgive someone who's hurt you, it's like escaping your skin - you're that free, outside yourself, where you can see everything.
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John Irving |
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e329421
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There is at least one terrible thing about lovers - real lovers, I mean: people who are in love with each other, even then they will relish their every physical contact in a sexual way; even when they're supposed to be in a kind of mourning, they can get aroused. Franny and I simply couldn't have gone on holding each other on the stairs: it was impossible to touch each other, at all, and not want to touch everything.
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John Irving |
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2948f35
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Jack realized that when you're happy - especially when it's the first time in your life - you think of things that would never have occurred to you when you were unhappy.
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John Irving |
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6daf3d1
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Love also floats. And, that being true, love probably resembles Sorrow in other ways.
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John Irving |
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20b7407
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Add doom to the list, then. Especially in families, doom is "altogether common." Sorrow floats; love, too; and - in the long run - doom. It floats, too."
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John Irving |
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b15c35f
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it insisted to her that she was a writer, when perhaps she was only a sensitive and loving reader, a lover of literature who thought she wanted to write. I think it was the writing that killed Lilly, because writing can do that. It just burned her up; she wasn't big enough to take the self-abuse of it, to take the constant chipping away - of herself.
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John Irving |
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e0de4af
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God creates us out of love, but we don't want God, or we don't believe in Him, or we pay very poor attention to Him. Nevertheless, God continues to love us--at least, He continues to try to get our attention. Pastor Merrill made religion seem reasonable. And the trick of having faith, he said, was that it was necessary to believe in God without any great or even remotely reassuring evidence that we don't inhabit a godless universe.
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John Irving |
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95d71bb
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From that moment on, he would never stop seeing her, not in his minds eye - not whenever he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. She would always be there.
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John Irving |
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bb9c167
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And the trick of having faith, he said, was that it was necessary to believe in God without any great or even remotely reassuring evidence that we don't inhabit a godless universe.
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John Irving |
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0233c38
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Therefore, there must be a first mover existing above all--and this we call God.
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John Irving |
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3e95343
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A loving couple will say things to each other - you know, Danny - just to make each other feel good about a situation, even if the situation isn't good, or it they shouldn't feel good about i," Ketchum said. "A loving couple will make up their own rules, as if these made-up rules were as reliable or counted for as much as the rules everyone else tried to live by - if you know what I mean."
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John Irving |
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5d7ac37
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You take every opportunity given you in this world, even if you have too many opportunities. One day the opportunities stop, you know?
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John Irving |
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39c3cb6
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I was four, and I sincerely believe that this is my first memory of life itself - as opposed to what I was told happened, as opposed to the pictures other people have painted for me.
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John Irving |
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5e91c83
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THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET AMERICANS TO NOTICE ANYTHING IS TO TAX THEM OR DRAFT THEM OR KILL THEM," Owen said. He said that once--when Hester proposed abolishing the draft. "IF YOU ABOLISH THE DRAFT," said Owen Meany, "MOST AMERICANS WILL SIMPLY STOP CARING ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DOING IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD." --
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John Irving |
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7cabb24
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GOD HAS TAKEN YOUR MOTHER. MY HANDS WERE THE INSTRUMENT. GOD HAS TAKEN MY HANDS. I AM GOD'S INSTRUMENT.
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fate
religion
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John Irving |
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b66fe0e
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Once a Garp, then an Arp, now only an Ar; she knew he was dying. He had just one vowel and one consonant left.
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John Irving |
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dac2fc4
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Kogda neozhidanno umiraet liubimyi chelovek, ty teriaesh' ego ne srazu. Eto proiskhodit postepenno, shag za shagom, na protiazhenii dolgogo vremeni, -- tak perestaiut prikhodit' pis'ma, -- vot uletuchilsia znakomyi zapakh iz podushek, a potom iz odezhnogo shkafa i iashchikov. Postepenno ty nakaplivaesh' v soznanii kakie-to ischezaiushchie chastichki etogo cheloveka; a potom nastupaet den', kogda zamechaesh': ischezlo chto-to osoboe, i okhva..
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John Irving |
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3ef3662
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He'd complained to his doctor. "The beta-blockers are blocking my memories!" Juan Diego cried. "They are stealing my childhood--they are robbing my dreams!" To his doctor, all this hysteria meant was that Juan Diego missed the kick his adrenaline gave him. (Beta-blockers really do a number on your adrenaline.)"
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John Irving |
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e2f3bc1
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The English teacher kept his fingers crossed about Exeter; if the boy was accepted, Mr. Leary hoped the school would be so rigorous that it might save young Baciagalupo from the more unsavory aspects of his imagination. At Exeter, maybe the mechanics of writing would be so thoroughly demanding and time-consuming that Danny would become a more intellectual writer. (Meaning what, exactly? Not quite such a creative one?)
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John Irving |
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4967f30
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My God," Franny would say later. "They would bring their daughter to see a murder, but they wouldn't even let her hear about an orgasm. Americans sure are strange."
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John Irving |
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be425b8
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Every misunderstanding has at its center a breakdown of language.
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John Irving |
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419a757
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A personal injustice is stronger motivation than any instinct of philanthropy
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John Irving |
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54acd6b
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Why does it seem to take more than half a lifetime to get to be a lousy teenager? Why does childhood take forever - when you're a child? Why does it seem to occupy a solid three-quarters of the whole trip? And when it's over, when the kids grow up, when you suddenly have to face facts...well," Frank said to me, just recently, "you know the story. When we were in the first Hotel New Hampshire, it seemed we'd go on being thirteen and fourteen..
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John Irving |
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e5ce193
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It was as if all the books in her room had been feeding on her, had consumed - not nourished - her.
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John Irving |
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fee3d0a
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There are many unintentionally cruel talents that the world, indiscriminately, hands out to us. Whether we can use these gifts we never asked for is not the worlds concern.
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talent
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John Irving |
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4a784c5
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Most self-destructive behavior is simply ridiculous--never mind how complexly compelled by personal demons.
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John Irving |