#al

I perceive two things in Scotland of the most fearful omen: ignorance of theological truth, and a readiness to pride themselves in and boast of it. ↗

— Edward Irving

#fearful #i #ignorance #most #omen

And I find - I'm 63, and my capacity to be by myself and just spend time by myself hasn't diminished any. That's the necessary part of being a writer, you better like being alone. ↗

— John Irving

#any #being #being alone #better #capacity

I've always preferred writing in longhand. I've always written first drafts in longhand. ↗

— John Irving

#drafts #first #i #preferred #writing

Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you - and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you! ↗

— John Irving

#files #forget #hides #keeps #memory

I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message. ↗

— Steve Irwin

#being #believe #education #educational #enthusiasm

To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We were just a family. In a family even exaggerations make perfect sense. ↗

— John Irving

#each #even #family #just #make

And I don't want to begin something, I don't want to write that first sentence until all the important connections in the novel are known to me. As if the story has already taken place, and it's my responsibility to put it in the right order to tell it to you. ↗

— John Irving

#begin #connections #first #i #important

Good habits are worth being fanatical about. ↗

— John Irving

#being #fanatical #good #good habits #habits

I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to know what happens. I mean that I have to hear the actual sentences. I have to know what atmosphere the words convey. ↗

— John Irving

#atmosphere #begin #convey #ending #happens

I had been a student in Vienna, and one of the neat little things I had found out was about that zoo. It was a good debut novel for me to have published. I was 26 or 27 when it was published. I already had a kid and would soon have a second. ↗

— John Irving

#already #been #debut #found #good