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Last Night in Twisted River QUOTES

Last Night in Twisted River QUOTES

1 " Everyone has a right to be a little happy, asshole. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

2 " Six-Pack didn't despise George W. Bush to the degree that Ketchum did, but she thought the president was a smirking twerp and a dumbed-down daddy's boy, and she agreed with Ketchum's assessment that Bush would be as worthless as wet crap in even the smallest crisis. If a fight broke out between two small dogs, for example, Ketchum claimed that Bush would call the fire department and ask them to bring a hose; then the president would position himself at a safe distance from the dogfight, and wait for the firemen to show up. The part Pam liked best about this assessment was that Ketchum said the president would instantly look self-important, and would appear to be actively involved--that is, once the firefighters and their hose arrived, and provided there was anything remaining of the mess the two dogs might have made of each other in the interim. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

3 " Moreover, there was what Amy called “the cocksuckers’ contingent of the country”—what Danny knew as the dumber-than-dog-shit element, those bully patriots—and they were too set in their ways or too poorly educated (or both) to see beyond the ceaseless flag-waving and nationalistic bluster. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

4 " Just because you're sober, don't think you're a good driver, Cookie. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

5 " Did having a dog make you less political? "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

6 " 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. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

7 " 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?) "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

8 " 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 "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

9 " If we live long enough, we become caricatures of ourselves. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

10 " Don't get your balls crossed about it. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

11 " Thus we try to keep our heroes alive; hence we remember them. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

12 " He was too young to know that, in any novel with a reasonable amount of forethought, there were no coincidences. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

13 " The one critisism the author of Slaugherhouse-Five would make of the young writer was what he called a punctuation problem. Mr. Vonnegut didn't like all the semicolons. 'People will probably figure out that you went to college -- you don't have to try to prove it to them,' he told Danny. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

14 " I'll tell you what's wrong with dumb-shit patriotism--it's delusional! It signifies nothing but the American need to win "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

15 " 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. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

16 " 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. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

17 " 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. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

18 " If you think you are capable of living without writing, do not write, "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

19 " Rural life in the winter months was rugged: snow-blurred and alcohol-fueled, violent and fast. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River

20 " But the available light in Twisted River was dim and growing dimmer. The dance-hall door blew (or was slammed) closed, cutting off Teresa Brewer as suddenly as if Six-Pack had taken the singer’s slender throat in her hands. When the dance-hall door blew (or was kicked) open again, Tony Bennett was crooning “Rags to Riches.” Dominic didn’t for a moment doubt that the town’s eternal violence was partly spawned by irredeemable music. "

― John Irving , Last Night in Twisted River