John Irving Quotes

It's like someone cutting up a loved one in front of you, all the time insisting they've got your best interests at heart. They're very devious nowadays.

It's easy to be led astray when you're so broken. People take advantage of you.

The laughing way we make damaged people our playthings, it's so dehumanizing.

Not even Carol knows firsthand how it feels to be hurt in such a way by someone who's supposed to protect you

But why do you want to talk to me?' He is going to say: 'Because you look so kind,' or 'Because you look so beautiful and kind,' or, subtly, 'Because you look as if you'll understand....' He says: 'Because I think you won't betray me.' I had meant to get this mean to talk to me and tell me all about it, and then be so devastatingly English that perhaps I should manage to hurt him a little in return for all the many times I've been hurt.... 'Because I think you won't betray me, because I think you won't betray me....' Now it won't be so easy.

The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool.

Pity is just another form of abuse.

Innocence is thought charming because it offers delightful possibilities for exploitation.

You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated.

I'm going to give you God's truth, little girl. All men want to do is hurt you. Once you give them your heart, they tear it to shreds." ~Francine Rivers; Redeeming Love

A lie is an act of theft. It steals peoples faith and makes them resent themselves

The moment of betrayal is the worst, the moment when you know beyond any doubt that you've been betrayed: that some other human being has wished you that much evil

The people you love are just weapons that will be used against you.

I'd never hurt another person.

One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.

It's joyful to give. But for people who want to take advantage of you, you're kind of an easy mark.

I've been hurt quite a few times.

Most damage that others do us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion.

Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

Honest men are the soft easy cushions on which knaves repose and fatten.

Sometimes people don't trust the force of kindness. They think love or compassion or kindness will make you weak and kind of stupid and people will take advantage of you; you won't stand up for other people.

My father would invite me sweetly to come and sit on a stool at his feet, and, as I let myself trustingly down, he would gently kick the seat from under me - and laugh.

They always come back when they learn that not every woman's gonna treat them this good.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with those who are reckless with yours.

I do think you feel a little bit like you are preying on people's lives.