--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I seem most instinctively to believe in…" description: "\"I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of creative writing, whether in the form of verse or fiction, as a mode of truth-telling, self-..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/720/john-updike-396_believe_i-seem-most-instinctively-to-believe-in_1627948.jpg" --- # I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of… ![“I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of creative writing, whether in the form of verse or fiction, as a mode of truth-telling, self-expression and homage to the twin miracles of creation and consciousness.” quote by John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/720/john-updike-396_believe_i-seem-most-instinctively-to-believe-in_1627948.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/720/john-updike-396_believe_i-seem-most-instinctively-to-believe-in_1627948.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/720/john-updike-396_believe_i-seem-most-instinctively-to-believe-in_1627948.jpg) > “I seem most instinctively to believe in the human value of creative writing, whether in the form of verse or fiction, as a mode of truth-telling, self-expression and homage to the twin miracles of creation and consciousness.” [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Creative writing serves as a truthful, expressive conduit, honoring both the act of creation and human consciousness. **In simple terms:** Writing reveals truth and celebrates consciousness. Key Takeaway Write to explore and honor inner truths. Themes creativity truth self‑expression consciousness honor Mood introspective thoughtful motivational Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - journaling - fiction workshops - educational curricula - personal reflection Key Concepts authenticity humanism artistic purpose Questions to Reflect On - What personal truths can you uncover through writing? - How does creative writing deepen awareness of consciousness? A Different Perspective Not all writing achieves truth or depth; skill varies. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/) [Believe Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe-human/) [Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consciousness/) [Creation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) [Creation Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation-consciousness-359104/) [Creative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative/) [Creative writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creative-writing/) [Creativity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creativity/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Homage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homage/) [Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human/) [Instinctively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinctively/) [Instinctively Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinctively-believe-325768/) [Miracles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miracles/) [Mode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mode/) [Most](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/most/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Seem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seem/) [Self expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self-expression/) [Twin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twin/) [Value](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/value/) [Verse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/verse/) [Whether](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whether/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I don't claim to know what it means to say that we are made in the image of God, but I profoundly and instinctively…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/i-don-t-claim-to-know-what-it-means-to-say-that-we-are-made-in-the/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [No one knows how this world came into being. It is a creation of consciousness itself. It's extraordinary, a mystery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kornfield/no-one-knows-how-this-world-came-into-being-it-is-a-creation-of/) [Jack Kornfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kornfield/) > [I had a theoretical reverence and homage for beauty, elegance, gallantry, fascination but had I met those qualities incarnate in masculine shape, I should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/i-had-a-theoretical-reverence-and-homage-for-beauty-elegance/) [Charlotte Bronte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [Humor is my default mode.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/humor-is-my-default-mode/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [I was brought up to believe that human beings are good, which is why it shocks me to the core when I see human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benazir-bhutto/i-was-brought-up-to-believe-that-human-beings-are-good-which-is-why/) [Benazir Bhutto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benazir-bhutto/) > [I like to believe that most human beings go about things with a point of view that they're just doing what they feel like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dane-dehaan/i-like-to-believe-that-most-human-beings-go-about-things-with-a-point/) [Dane DeHaan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dane-dehaan/) > [I don't believe that there is a human creature in his senses, arrived to maturity, that at some time or other has not been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-de-mandeville/i-don-t-believe-that-there-is-a-human-creature-in-his-senses-arrived/) [Bernard de Mandeville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-de-mandeville/) > [“I confess that I do not believe that one human brain is capable of answering every objection that another human brain could raise against…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-h-spurgeon/i-confess-that-i-do-not-believe-that-one-human-brain-is-capable-of/) [Charles H. Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-h-spurgeon/) > [I do not believe there are eight hundred human beings on the globe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/i-do-not-believe-there-are-eight-hundred-human-beings-on-the-globe/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [History shows the power-grab in every religion once it gets organised. And then it's people making you do things that you don't agree with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margrethe-vestager/history-shows-the-power-grab-in-every-religion-once-it-gets-organised/) [Margrethe Vestager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margrethe-vestager/) > [I believe that every human being should try to do good for someone else. There are so many different ways to do it. My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/romero-britto/i-believe-that-every-human-being-should-try-to-do-good-for-someone/) [Romero Britto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/romero-britto/) > [I do not believe in evil- I believe that we are human and fallible, that we things and spoil them in an ordinary way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/i-do-not-believe-in-evil-i-believe-that-we-are-human-and-fallible/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [God's Word is true whether we believe it or not. Human unbelief cannot alter the character of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/god-s-word-is-true-whether-we-believe-it-or-not-human-unbelief-cannot/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [I believe in the human spirit. And usually the people who are following me - my fans and things like that - are like-minded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-h-wyman/i-believe-in-the-human-spirit-and-usually-the-people-who-are/) [J.H. Wyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-h-wyman/) > [“To YoYo Ma: "You playing is the best argument I've ever heard for the existence of God, because I don't really believe a human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/to-yoyo-ma-you-playing-is-the-best-argument-i-ve-ever-heard-for-the/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) ## More by John Updike > [Life is a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs unless you fall off.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/life-is-a-roller-coaster-you-have-your-ups-and-downs-unless-you-fall/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/children-are-not-a-zoo-of-entertainingly-exotic-creatures-but-an/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [I assume my stance, and take back the club, low, slowly; at the top, my eyes fog over, and my joints dip and swirl…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/i-assume-my-stance-and-take-back-the-club-low-slowly-at-the-top-my/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [The New England spirit does not seek solutions in a crowd; raw light and solitariness are less dreaded than welcomed as enhancers of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/the-new-england-spirit-does-not-seek-solutions-in-a-crowd-raw-light/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [I imagine most of that stuff on the information highway is roadkill anyway.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/i-imagine-most-of-that-stuff-on-the-information-highway-is-roadkill/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [Families, doing everything for each other out of imagined obligation and always getting in each other's way, what a tangle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/families-doing-everything-for-each-other-out-of-imagined-obligation/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [“The fucking world is running out of gas.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/the-fucking-world-is-running-out-of-gas/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [The theme of old age doesn't seem to fascinate Hollywood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/the-theme-of-old-age-doesn-t-seem-to-fascinate-hollywood/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [“The mind cannot fall asleep as long as it watches itself. Only when the mind moves unwatched and becomes absorbed in images that tug…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/the-mind-cannot-fall-asleep-as-long-as-it-watches-itself-only-when/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [“it was somehow wonderful of her to be, in every detail, herself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/it-was-somehow-wonderful-of-her-to-be-in-every-detail-herself/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [In fiction, imaginary people become realer to us than any named celebrity glimpsed in a series of rumored events, whose causes and subtler ramifications…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/in-fiction-imaginary-people-become-realer-to-us-than-any-named/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [“Her hair had been going gray as long as he could remember; she bundled it behind in a bun held with hairpins that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/her-hair-had-been-going-gray-as-long-as-he-could-remember-she-bundled/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/possession-diminishes-perception-of-value-immediately/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [I can't bear to finish things, beyond a certain point they get heavy. 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You have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julianne-moore/i-actually-think-acting-is-a-form-of-self-hypnosis-you-have-to-be/) [Julianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julianne-moore/) > [Some people still believe you should just fall in line with what's going on - and that's scary. It makes a mockery of freedom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-robison/some-people-still-believe-you-should-just-fall-in-line-with-what-s/) [Emily Robison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-robison/) > [The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/the-truth-seems-to-be-that-propaganda-on-its-own-cannot-force-its-way/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [Resist discouragement by speaking His Word over your future. Keep standing. Keep hoping; keep believing because He is working behind the scenes. He's going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joel-osteen/resist-discouragement-by-speaking-his-word-over-your-future-keep/) [Joel Osteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joel-osteen/) > [I can't believe that I'm sitting in meetings with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Annette Bening. I want to take on that responsibility to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ross-williams/i-can-t-believe-that-i-m-sitting-in-meetings-with-steven-spielberg/) [Roger Ross Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ross-williams/) > [There is no such word as item girl in the dictionary. People have created this word and I don't believe that I am an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shefali-zariwala/there-is-no-such-word-as-item-girl-in-the-dictionary-people-have/) [Shefali Zariwala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shefali-zariwala/) > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... That's my lifeblood. 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