Quotes from The Fourth Hand

John Irving ·  368 pages

Rating: (25.7K votes)


“Lemties neįmanoma įžvelgti, nebent jei sapnuoji ar esi apsvaigęs iš meilės.”
― John Irving, quote from The Fourth Hand


“Aren’t eccentricities fairly common among overachievers.”
― John Irving, quote from The Fourth Hand


“As for Dr. Zajac’s modest contribution to the ongoing pollution of the Charles River… well, let’s be fair… In his hopelessly old-fashioned opinion, a lot worse than dogshit was dumped into the Charles on daily basis.”
― John Irving, quote from The Fourth Hand


“And feeling like a failed sexual predator, because of pregnant Mary…”
― John Irving, quote from The Fourth Hand


“Americans are suckers for an English accent.”
― John Irving, quote from The Fourth Hand



“When they weren’t praying, they did what schoolgirls everywhere do. They laughed, they shrieked, they burst into hysterical sobs – all for no apparent reason…

The schoolgirls also played the worst Western music imaginable, and they took a surfeit of baths – so many baths that the traditional inn where Wallingford and Evelyn Arbuthnot stayed was repeatedly running out of hot water.”
― John Irving, quote from The Fourth Hand


“There is often a defining experience that marks any significant change in the course of a person’s life.”
― John Irving, quote from The Fourth Hand


“Was he nice? He didn’t know. He hoped he was, but how many of us truly know?”
― John Irving, quote from The Fourth Hand


About the author

John Irving
Born place: in Exeter, New Hampshire, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“He preferred her barefoot, he said. She had such lovely feet. Roza didn’t agree. What was lovely about feet that could not take you anywhere? What was lovely about feet that could not run?”
― Laura Ruby, quote from Bone Gap


“He’d tried to explain it to her, how accidents happen but we really are safe. But there was, already, the sense that nothing he said touched what was really bothering her, which was the realization that you can’t stop bad things from happening to other people, other things. And that would be hard forever. He’d never quite gotten used to it himself.”
― Megan Abbott, quote from The Fever


“In what world is Armani here seventeen?” Cristiano shrugged unapologetically. “They feed us better in Italy.”
― A.E. Kirk, quote from Demons in Disguise


“The orchestra strikes up with ‘Stockholm in My Heart’, and everyone joins in. Hands sway in the air, mobile phone cameras are raised. A wonderful feeling of togetherness. It will be another fifteen minutes until, with meticulous premeditation, the whole thing is torn to shreds. Let us sing along for the time being. We have a long way to go before we return here. Only when the journey has softened us up, when we are ready to think the unthinkable, will we be permitted to come back.”
― John Ajvide Lindqvist, quote from Little Star


“Well ..." He glanced back at the calico. "The Valkyries told you that Freya's chariot is drawn by two house cats, right?"
She smiled. "Right. I forgot that." She looked at the cat. "Hey, make yourself useful. Find a friend and a chariot, okay? My feet are getting sore."
The cat eyed her balefully.”
― K.L. Armstrong, quote from Thor's Serpents


Interesting books

The Imitation of Christ
(15.8K)
The Imitation of Chr...
by Thomas à Kempis
A Gathering of Shadows
(50.5K)
A Gathering of Shado...
by V.E. Schwab
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
(35.2K)
Fooled by Randomness...
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Vincent Boys
(67.9K)
The Vincent Boys
by Abbi Glines
Saving Francesca
(29K)
Saving Francesca
by Melina Marchetta
The Bonehunters
(24.8K)
The Bonehunters
by Steven Erikson

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.