The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness.

Quote by John Cheever

Topics: John Cheever Quotes

Art is the triumph over chaos.

Art is the triumph over chaos.

All literary men are Red Sox fans - to be a Yankee fan in a...

All literary men are Red Sox fans - to be a Yankee fan in a...

A lonely man is a lonesome thing, a stone, a bone, a stick, a receptacle...

A lonely man is a lonesome thing, a stone, a bone, a stick, a receptacle...

Wisdom is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the...

Wisdom is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the...

Wisdom we know is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose...

Wisdom we know is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose...

People look for morals in fiction because there has always been a confusion between fiction...

People look for morals in fiction because there has always been a confusion between fiction...

I sometimes go back to walk through the ghostly remains of Sutton Place where the...

I sometimes go back to walk through the ghostly remains of Sutton Place where the...

I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.

I do not understand the capricious lewdness of the sleeping mind.

The deep joy we take in the company of people with whom we have just...

The deep joy we take in the company of people with whom we have just...

That's the way I remember them, heading for an exit.

That's the way I remember them, heading for an exit.

Homesickness is nothing Fifty percent of the people in the world are homesick all the...

Homesickness is nothing Fifty percent of the people in the world are homesick all the...

Fiction is experimentation; when it ceases to be that, it ceases to be fiction.

Fiction is experimentation; when it ceases to be that, it ceases to be fiction.

What I am going to write is the last of what I have to say....

What I am going to write is the last of what I have to say....

The task of an American writer is not to describe the misgivings of a woman...

The task of an American writer is not to describe the misgivings of a woman...

The deep joy we take in the company of people with whom we have just...

The deep joy we take in the company of people with whom we have just...

It was a splendid summer morning and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.

It was a splendid summer morning and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.

For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the...

For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the...

Literature has been the salvation of the damned, literature has inspired and guided lovers, routed...

Literature has been the salvation of the damned, literature has inspired and guided lovers, routed...

When I remember my family, I always remember their backs. They were always indignantly leaving...

When I remember my family, I always remember their backs. They were always indignantly leaving...

Good writers are often excellent at a hundred other things, but writing promises a greater...

Good writers are often excellent at a hundred other things, but writing promises a greater...