All John Updike Quotes
- You cannot help but learn more as take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is and old piece of clay,… Cannot Help
- The great thing about the dead, they make space. Dead
- School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't take you. Education
- And there was, in those Ipswich years, for me at least, a raw educational component; though I used to score well in academic tests, I… Academic
- It skims in through the eye, and by means of the utterly delicate retina hurls shadows like insect legs inward for translation. Then an immense… Asks
- Perfectionism is the enemy of creation, as extreme self- solitude is the enemy of well- being. Acceptance
- The stripped and shapely Maple grieves The ghosts of her Departed leaves. The ground is hard, As hard as stone. The year is old, The… Autumn
- The measure of artistic merit is the length to which a writer is willing to go in following his own compulsions. Artistic
- Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face. As soon as one is aware of being somebody, to be watched and listened to with… Animation
- Old age treats freelance writers pretty gently. Age
- An aging writer has the not insignificant satisfaction of a shelf of books behind him that, as they wait for their ideal readers to discover… Aging
- My transition from wanting to be a cartoonist to wanting to be a writer may have come about through that friendly opposition, that even-handed pairing,… Cartoonist
- American art in general... takes to surreal exaggerations and metaphors; but its Puritan work ethic has little use for the playful self-indulgence behind Parisian Surrealism. American
- Without books, we might just melt into the airwaves and be just another set of blips. Airwaves
- My attempt has been really to, beyond making a record of contemporary life, which is what you inevitably do, is trying to make beautiful books… Attempt
- Sometimes it seems the whole purpose of pets is to bring death into the house. Bring
- America is beyond power; it acts as in a dream, as a face of God. Wherever America is, there is freedom, and wherever America is… Acts
- My father taught only math. Father
- The rich - they just live in another realm, really. Another Realm
- I was raised in the Depression, when there was a great sense of dog-eat-dog and people fighting over scraps. Depression
- Reagan has turned America into a tax haven. America
- My actinic keratosis is a result of the triumphalism of the beach. The sun exacerbates it. Beach
- A number of American colleges are willing to pay a tempting amount to pinch and poke an author for a day or two. American
- A lot of the Koran does not speak very eloquently to a Westerner. Much of it is either legalistic or opaquely poetic. Eloquently
- Arabic is very twisting, very beautiful. The call to prayer is quite haunting; it almost makes you a believer on the spot. Almost Makes