John Updike Quotes

Quotes about:

• Living is a compromise, between doing what you want and doing what other people want.

  John Updike

  People, Doing What You Want, Compromise

  John Updike (1990). “Rabbit Angstrom: a tetralogy”, Everyman's Library

  11 Copy quote

• I like old men. They can be wonderful bastards because they have nothing to lose. The only people who can be themselves are babies and old bastards.

  John Updike

  Baby, Men, People

  John Updike (2012). “Couples: A Novel”, p.40, Random House

  10 Copy quote

• It is easy to love people in memory; the hard thing is to love them when they are there in front of you.

  John Updike

  Memories, People, Lovely

  John Updike (2009). “My Father's Tears: And Other Stories”, p.202, Random House

  59 Copy quote

• Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went.

  John Updike

  Home, Car, Literature

  63 Copy quote

• The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and he does it without destroying something else.

  John Updike

  Artist, World, Doe

  John Updike, James Plath (1994). “Conversations with John Updike”, p.45, Univ. Press of Mississippi

  14 Copy quote
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  Perfectionism is the enemy of creation, as extreme self- solitude is the enemy of well- being.

  John Updike

  Acceptance, Self, Perfection

  50 Copy quote

• Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.

  John Updike

  Positive, Success, Dream

  FaceBook post by John Updike from Mar 19, 2013

  45 Copy quote

• Life is a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs unless you fall off.

  John Updike

  Life, Fall, Roller Coaster

  13 Copy quote

• Looking foolish does the spirit good. The need not to look foolish is one of youth's many burdens; as we get older we are exempted from more and more.

  John Updike

  Doe, Needs, Looks

  John Updike (2012). “Self-Consciousness: Memoirs”, p.250, Random House

  23 Copy quote

• I want to write books that unlock the traffic jam in everybody's head.

  John Updike

  Book, Writing, Novelists

  FaceBook post by John Updike from Dec 22, 2013

  45 Copy quote

• Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.

  John Updike

  Inspiration, Literature, Materials

  55 Copy quote

• Do what the heart commands. The heart is our only guide.

  John Updike

  Heart, Guidance, Guides

  10 Copy quote

• Chaos is God's body. Order is the Devil's chains.

  John Updike

  Order, Devil, Body

  John Updike (1981). “Rabbit is Rich: Rabbit Redux ; Rabbit, Run”

  21 Copy quote

• Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better.

  John Updike

  Motivational, Inspiring, Education

  John Updike (2013). “Picked-Up Pieces: Essays”, p.22, Random House

  23 Copy quote

• Sex is like money; only too much is enough.

  John Updike

  Sex, Too Much, Funny Money

  1968 Couples, ch.5.

  46 Copy quote

• A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.

  John Updike

  Leadership, Men, People

  John Updike (2012). “The Coup: A Novel”, p.172, Random House

  65 Copy quote

• The world ... is full of people who never knew what hit 'em, their lives are over before they wake up.

  John Updike

  Life, People, Wake Up

  John Updike (2010). “Rabbit Is Rich”, p.232, Random House

  7 Copy quote

• It's great to have an enemy. Sharpens your senses.

  John Updike

  Enemy, Senses

  John Updike (2010). “Rabbit Is Rich”, p.138, Random House

  18 Copy quote

• Each day, we wake slightly altered, and the person we were yesterday is dead. So why, one could say, be afraid of death, when death comes all the time?

  John Updike

  Yesterday, Each Day, Afraid Of Death

  John Updike (2012). “Self-Consciousness: Memoirs”, p.221, Random House

  13 Copy quote

• Every marriage tends to consist of an aristocrat and a peasant. Of a teacher and a learner.

  John Updike

  Marriage, Teacher, Aristocracy

  John Updike (2012). “Couples: A Novel”, p.72, Random House

  27 Copy quote

• Existence itself does not feel horrible; it feels like an ecstasy, rather, which we have only to be still to experience.

  John Updike

  Life, Experience, Doe

  "Self-Consciousness: Memoirs". Book by John Updike, 1989.

  50 Copy quote

• We are most alive when we're in love.

  John Updike

  Love, Marriage, Alive

  37 Copy quote

• I think books should have secrets, like people do.

  John Updike

  Book, Thinking, Should Have

  John Updike, James Plath (1994). “Conversations with John Updike”, p.35, Univ. Press of Mississippi

  6 Copy quote

• If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.

  John Updike

  Being Yourself, People, Pay

  John Updike (2010). “Rabbit, Run”, p.157, Random House

  29 Copy quote

• A photograph offers us a glimpse into the abyss of time.

  John Updike

  Glimpse, Photograph, Abyss

  13 Copy quote

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