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52a415c
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Women know when men don't desire them: ghosts and witches, deities and demons, angels of death--even virgins, even ordinary women. They always know; women can tell when you have stopped desiring them.
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John Irving |
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f7af2ce
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When people die, Vargas - I mean the people you will always remember, the ones who changed your life - they never really go away," Pepe told the young doctor."
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John Irving |
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67b304e
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friends were more important than lovers - not least for the fact that friendships generally lasted longer than relationships.
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relationships
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John Irving |
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55230c7
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there's a limit to enduring admiration being a substitute for love.
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love
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John Irving |
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e523073
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I'll bet every fucking one of your angels is going to be terrifying!
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John Irving |
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ba2e094
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That's okay," I said. "We're writers. We make things up."
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John Irving |
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9946700
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If you're God's instrument, Owen," I said, "how come you need my help to stuff a basketball?"
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John Irving |
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36c4f8e
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I'll tell you what's wrong with dumb-shit patriotism--it's delusional! It signifies nothing but the American need to win
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John Irving |
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a230d52
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We've been an empire in decline since I can remember," Ketchum said bluntly; he wasn't kidding. "We are a lost nation, Danny. Stop farting around."
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John Irving |
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69b4f00
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When we held Owen Meany above our heads, when we passed him back and forth - so effortlessly - we believed that Owen weighed nothing at all. We did not realize that there were forces beyond our play. Now I know that they were the forces that contributed to our illusion of Owen's weightlessness; they were the forces we didn't have the faith to feel, they were the forces we failed to believe in - and they were also lifting up Owen Meany, taki..
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John Irving |
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4bac7f8
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Hang in there, Frank!' Freud called - to the entire lobby. 'Don't let anyone tell you you're queer! You're a prince, Frank!' Freud cried. 'You're better than Rudolf!' Freud yelled to Frank. 'You're more majestic than all the Hapsburgs, Frank!' Freud encouraged him. Frank couldn't speak, he was crying so hard.
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John Irving |
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d2bacd5
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When people say that German or any other language is romantic... all they really mean is that they've enjoyed a past in the language.
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John Irving |
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7e1c7bc
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Of course: because it was in one of the camps that he went blind. They had performed some failed experiment on his eyes in the camp. 'No, not summer camp,' Franny had to tell Lilly, who had always been afraid of being sent to summer camp, and was unsurprised to hear that they tortured the campers.
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John Irving |
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d8dc157
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Nostalgia!" Miss Frost cried. "You're nostalgic!" She repeated. "Just how old are you, William?" She asked. "Seventeen, " I told her. "Seventeen!" Miss Frost cried, as if she'd been stabbed. "Well, William Abbott, if you're nostalgic at seventeen, maybe you are going to be a writer!"
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John Irving |
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23e1580
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We don't always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly-as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth-the same sudden way we lose people, who once seemed they would always be part of our lives.
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John Irving |
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94ba710
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When Homer Wells saw the stationmaster's brain stem exposed, he felt that Dr. Larch was busy enough - with both hands - for it to be safe to say what Homer wanted to say. 'I love you,' said Homer Wells. He knew he had to leave the room, then - while he could still see the door - and so he started to leave. 'I love you too, Homer,' said Wilbur Larch, who for another minute or more could not have seen a blood clot in the brain stem if there h..
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John Irving |
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0eca701
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That's what I love about boys," Marion told him. "No matter what, you just go about your business."
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John Irving |
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69872e7
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You don't sound very well Owen." I pointed out to him. "IF JESUS HAD TO BE BORN ON A DAY LIKE THIS. I DON'T THINK HE'D HAVE LASTED LONG ENOUGH TO BE CRUCIFIED." Owen said."
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John Irving |
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2ab52fe
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I suddenly realized what small towns are. They are places where you grow up with the peculiar-you live next to the strange and the unlikely for so long that everything and everyone become commonplace.
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John Irving |
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6e63f31
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people can't, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents.
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John Irving |
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28b22ed
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WHAT I'M TELLING YOU IS, IF YOU WANT TO DO THINGS YOUR OWN WAY, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION - YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO FIND A LITTLE COURAGE.
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decision-making
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John Irving |
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1e755e1
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Anne-Elisabeth had taken the music from Dr. Horvath and was looking through it. 'I see finger-cramping possibilities, William - of them,' she told him. I see ,' William said, winking at her. ' of it.
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John Irving |
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bd32943
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The kind of people claiming to be in communication with God today . . . they are enough to drive a real Christian crazy! And how about these evangelical types, performing miracles for money? Oh, there's big bucks in interpreting the gospel for idiots-or in having idiots interpret the gospel for you
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John Irving |
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90efc39
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Amy Martin (ladysky) and Daniel Baciagalupo had a month to spend on Charlotte Turner's island in Georgian Bay; it was their wilderness way of getting to know each other before their life together in Toronto began. We don't always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly--as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth--the same sudden way we lose people, who o..
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John Irving |
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a42df42
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It seemed to Dr. Daruwalla that his story was the opposite of universal; his story was simply strange - the doctor himself was singularly foreign.
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John Irving |
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7aa190e
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It is the well educated who will improve society--and they will improve it, at first, by criticizing it, and we are giving them the tools to criticize it. Naturally, as students, the brighter of them will begin their improvements upon society by criticizing us." To Owen, old Archie Thorndike would sing a slightly different song: "It is your responsibility to find fault with me, it is mine to hear you out. But don't expect me to change. I'm ..
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John Irving |
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dcaf1f7
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nearly everything seems a letdown after a writer has finished writing something.
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John Irving |
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61bef8e
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YOUR BOREDOM IS YOUR PROBLEM," said Owen Meany. "IT'S YOUR LACK OF IMAGINATION THAT BORES YOU. HARDY HAS THE WORLD FIGURED OUT. TESS IS DOOMED. FATE HAS IT IN FOR HER. SHE'S A VICTIM; IF YOU'RE A VICTIM, THE WORLD WILL USE YOU. WHY SHOULD SOMEONE WHO'S GOT SUCH A WORKED-OUT WAY OF SEEING THE WORLD BORE YOU? WHY SHOULDN'T YOU BE INTERESTED IN SOMEONE WHO'S WORKED OUT A WAY TO SEE THE WORLD? THAT'S WHAT MAKES WRITERS INTERESTING!"
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literature
imagination
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John Irving |
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cfbd44c
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The situation Larch was thinking of was war, the so-called war in Europe; Larch, and many others, feared that the war wouldn't stay there. ('I'm sorry, Homer,' Larch imagined having to tell the boy. 'I don't want you to worry, but you have a bad heart; it just wouldn't stand up to a war.') What Larch meant was that his own heart would never stand up to Homer Wells's going to war. The love of Wilbur Larch for Homer Wells extended even to his..
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John Irving |
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a621bb5
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You've witnessed what you c-c-c-call a miracle and now you believe-you believe everything," Pastor Merrill said. "But miracles don't c-c-c-cause belief-real miracles don't m-m-m-make faith out of thin air; you have to already have faith in order to believe in real miracles."
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John Irving |
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e187b27
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Melony put herself straight to bed without her dinner. Mrs. Grogan, worried about her, went to Melony's bed and felt her forehead, which was feverish, but Mrs. Grogan could not coax Melony to drink anything. All Melony said was, 'He broke his promise.' Later, she said, 'Homer Wells has left St. Cloud's.' 'You have a little temperature, dear,' said Mrs. Grogan, but when Homer Wells didn't come to read Jane Eyre aloud that evening, Mrs. Groga..
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John Irving |
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f7afedc
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there was no better company for an especially personal revelation than the company of virtual strangers.
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John Irving |
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baee115
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When I first came to Canada, I thought it was going to be easy to be a Canadian; like so many stupid Americans, I pictured Canada as simply some northern, colder, possibly more provincial region of the United States-I imagined it would be like moving to Maine, or Minnesota.
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John Irving |
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ccb662f
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As for Jenny, she felt only that women - just like men - should at least be able to make conscious decisions about the course of their lives; if that made her a feminist, she said, then she guessed she was one.
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John Irving |
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b22f2d1
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The day women stop reading--that's the day the novel dies!
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John Irving |
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a4757a5
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Did Owen say your grandmother was a banshee?" "He said she was 'wailing like a banshee,'" I explained. Dan got out the dictionary , then; he was clucking his tongue and shaking his head, and laughing at himself saying, "That boy! What a boy! Brilliant but preposterous!" And that was the first time I learned, literally, what a banshee was--a banshee, in Irish folklore, is a female spirit whose wailing is a sign that a loved one will soon die..
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John Irving |
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bacbfae
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Because who can describe the look that triggers the memory of loved ones? Who can anticipate the frown, the smile, or the misplaced lock of hair that sends a swift, undeniable signal from the past? Who can ever estimate the power of association, which is always strongest in moments of love and in memories of death?
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memory
nostalgia
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John Irving |
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4535ab1
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I'm just a woman with a penis!" she would say, her voice rising."
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John Irving |
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6f66602
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You should wait, William," Miss Frost said. "The time to read is when your romantic hopes and desires have crashed, and you believe that your future relationships will have disappointing - even devastating - consequences."
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John Irving |
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84fff2f
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Of course, everyone is intolerant of something or someone.
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John Irving |
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0d092da
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As for the river, it just kept moving,as river do--as rivers do. Under the logs, the body of the young Canadian moved with the river, which jostled him to and fro--to and fro. If, at this moment in time Twisted River also appeared restless, even impatient, maybe the river itself wanted the boy's body to move on, too, move on, too.
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John Irving |
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88ef2b5
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Many things the gods achieve beyond our judgement,'" said the sorrowful girl. "'What we thought is not confirmed and what we thought not God contives."
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religion
knowledge
thought
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John Irving |
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4be805d
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He felt like hearing Mrs. Grogan's prayer again, and so he went to the girls' division a little early for his usual delivery of Jane Eyre. He eavesdropped in the hall on Mrs. Grogan's prayer; he thought, then wondered if it would confuse the boys coming so quickly on the heels of, or just before, the Princes of Maine, Kings of New England benediction. I get confused myself sometimes, Dr. Larch knew. ' Mrs. Grogan was saying, Amen, though..
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John Irving |
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5a1d074
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Only the chicken-lover will understand me. He will give me a kindly look, maybe mildly desirous. His eyes will tell me: You might look a lot better with some reddish-brown feathers.
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John Irving |