In One Person Quotes

“We are formed by what we desire”
― John Irving, In One Person

“Don't forget this, too: Rumors aren't interested in the unsensational story; rumors don't care what's true.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“Self-hatred is worse than loneliness.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“And when you love a book, commit one glorious sentence of it-perhaps your favorite sentence-to memory. That way you won't forget the language of the story that moved you to tears.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“Gender mattered a whole lot less to Shakespeare than it seems to matter to us.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“My dear boy, " Miss Frost said sharply. "My dear boy, please don't put a label on me - don't make a category before you get to know me!”
― John Irving, In One Person

“Most places we leave in childhood grow less, not more, fancy.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“It happens to many teenagers-that moment when you feel full of resentment or distrust for those adults you once loved unquestioningly.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“All I say is: Let us leave les folles alone; let's just leave them be. Don't judge them. You are not superior to them - don't put them down.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“You can learn a lot from your lovers, but-for the most part-you get to keep your friends longer, and you learn more from them.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“He was one of those people things came easily to, but he did little to demonstrate that he deserved to be gifted.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“You live your life at the time you live it -- you don't have much of an overview when what's happening to you is still happening.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“Novels are just another kind of cross-dressing, aren't they?”
― John Irving, In One Person

“The time to read Madame Bovary is when your romantic hopes and desires have crashed, and you will believe that your future relationships will have disappointing - even devastating - consequences.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“...where our desires "come from"; that is a dark, winding road.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“It doesn't really matter who said it - it's so obviously true. Bevore you can write anything, you have to notice something.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“It is exhausting to be seventeen and not know who you are.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“That's okay," I said. "We're writers. We make things up.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“I'll bet every fucking one of your angels is going to be terrifying!”
― John Irving, In One Person

“...friends were more important than lovers - not least for the fact that friendships generally lasted longer than relationships.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“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!”
― John Irving, In One Person

“...there's a limit to enduring admiration being a substitute for love.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“Of course, everyone is intolerant of something or someone.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“You should wait, William," Miss Frost said. "The time to read Madame Bovary is when your romantic hopes and desires have crashed, and you believe that your future relationships will have disappointing - even devastating - consequences.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“I'm just a woman with a penis!" she would say, her voice rising.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“people can’t, unhappily, invent their mooring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“By '95 - in New York, alone - more Americans had died of AIDS than were killed in Vietnam.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“Someone who hasn't read a novel doesn't really know what it's about, William.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“If you live long enough, Bill - it's a world of epilogues," Richard Abbott said.”
― John Irving, In One Person

“Why do you guys want to take all the mystery away? Isn't the mystery an exciting part of sex?”
― John Irving, In One Person