Quotations

from A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.... This was my favorite book for a while, read during my first year of college (for fun, where did I find the time)... but it's standing has dropped....

This first quote is one that has always been a favorite of mine. It shows up in the book awkwardly, sort of like the author just wanted to drop that in there, almost suddenly removed from the context of the narrative:

"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!"

This is one that I was never aware of and just read it somewhere. And yes it's written in all caps in the book, as spoken by the title character:

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU LEARNED IT--IT'S A GIFT. IF YOU CARE ABOUT SOMETHING, YOU HAVE TO PROTECT IT--IF YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND A WAY OF LIFE YOU LOVE, YOU HAVE TO FIND THE COURAGE TO LIVE IT."