“A novelist is a doctor who sees only terminal cases.”

“In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases”

“GPs are almost the only doctors these days who understand all problems, can see the whole person…spend time with the dying…see things through to the end.”

“The future is unwritten. there are best case scenarios. There are worst-case scenarios. both of them are great fun to write about if you' re a science fiction novelist, but neither of them ever happens in the real world. What happens in the real world is always a sideways-case scenario. World-changing marvels to us, are only wallpaper to our children.”

“The illness of a doctor is always worse than the illnesses of his patients.The patients only feel, but the doctor, as well as feeling, has a pretty good idea of the destructive effect of the disease on his constitution.This is a case in which knowledge brings death nearer.”

“The difference between a novelist and someone who tinkers around with writing is this: novelists finish their books.”