The Cider House Rules

by John Irving

There was the human body, which was so clearly designed to want babies—and then there was the human mind, which was so confused about the matter. Sometimes the mind didn’t want the babies, but sometimes the mind was so perverse that it made other people have babies they knew they didn’t want. For whom was this insisting done?

delirious happiness is possible only for the totally mindless.

He was about as innocent as rain, and about as thoughtless.

“Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.”

“It is better to do than to criticize,”

“Hospitals aren’t perfect, they’re just expected to be,” Nurse Caroline said. “And doctors aren’t perfect, either; they just think they are.”

When time passes, it’s the people who knew you whom you want to see; they’re the ones you can talk to. When enough time passes, what’s it matter what they did to you?

HOW CAN YOU FEEL FREE TO CHOOSE NOT TO HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT FREE TO GET OTHER HELP?

“You can’t protect people, kiddo,” Wally said. “All you can do is love them.”