The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions, is what distinguishes artists from entertainers, and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all.

Quote by John Updike

Topics: John Updike Quotes

Truth should not be forced; it should simply manifest itself, like a woman who has...

Truth should not be forced; it should simply manifest itself, like a woman who has...

The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of...

The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of...

Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying

Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying

Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the jobs of life.

Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the jobs of life.

Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face. As soon as one is aware...

Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face. As soon as one is aware...

The essential support and encouragement comes from within, arising out of the mad notion that...

The essential support and encouragement comes from within, arising out of the mad notion that...

Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the...

Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the...

Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad; hence the impression of obscene mockery which artificial...

Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad; hence the impression of obscene mockery which artificial...

For male and female alike, the bodies of the other sex are messages signaling what...

For male and female alike, the bodies of the other sex are messages signaling what...

To say that war is madness is like saying that sex is madness: true enough,...

To say that war is madness is like saying that sex is madness: true enough,...

Each morning my characters greet me with misty faces willing, though chilled, to muster for...

Each morning my characters greet me with misty faces willing, though chilled, to muster for...

Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a Second...

Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a Second...

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself...

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself...

Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would...

Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would...

The essential support and encouragement comes from within, arising out of the mad notion that...

The essential support and encouragement comes from within, arising out of the mad notion that...

I secretly understood: the primitive appeal of the hearth. Television is-its irresistible charm-a fire.

I secretly understood: the primitive appeal of the hearth. Television is-its irresistible charm-a fire.

There's a crystallization that goes on in a poem which the young man can bring...

There's a crystallization that goes on in a poem which the young man can bring...

From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the...

From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the...

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

The essential self is innocent, and when it tastes its own innocence knows that it...

The essential self is innocent, and when it tastes its own innocence knows that it...