John Irving Quotes

I will be conquered; I will not capitulate.

Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to submission.

You can't. You just have to.

Allah is my witness. I will not be silent. I will never surrender.

Prayer begins where human capacity ends.

My attitude is, do as much as I can while I'm free. And if I'm arrested I'll still do as much as I can.

I was now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system.

'Weary Willie' is very real to me. He is a man who has given up. The boat has gone and left him. The cards are stacked against him. He's content to make out with what he's got. He knows he'll go no further.

I spent a lot of years trying to beat the system and, in the end, the system kicked my behind good.

I haven't shaken my fists at the moon.

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

It's in God's hands.

We have fought this fight as long, and as well as we know how. We have been defeated. For us as a Christian people, there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation.

I trust in God, and His ways are not our ways. So we have to go with that, and there's nothing I can do about that.

Nothing exasperates the spirit in man more than power which seems unconquerable and which makes impotent all protest.

That which is given in submission becomes a medium of defiance.

I will not resign, I will not commit suicide, I will not leave the country.

I just don't see the point in sitting around hollering the blues over things you have no control over. It's all in God's hands.

If you can't do it, give up!

I leave everything in God's hands and continue to work on playing basketball.

If people say, 'You can't do that,' you can be sure I will do my utmost to do it.

I can't run no more with that lawless crowd while the killers in high places say their prayers out loud. But they've summoned, they've summoned up a thundercloud and they're going to hear from me. Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in.

If I can not bend Heaven, I shall move Hell.

Prayer begins where our power ends.

Only I keep wishing I could think of a way...to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games.