Customs and convictions change; respectable people are the last to know, or to admit, the change, and the ones most offended by fresh reflections of the facts in the mirror of art.

Quote by John Updike

Topics: John Updike Quotes

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

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...

Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players...

Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players...

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

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

It is not difficult to deceive the first time, for the deceived possesses no antibodies;...

It is not difficult to deceive the first time, for the deceived possesses no antibodies;...

The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions,...

The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions,...

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

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

We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one.

We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one.

Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the...

Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the...

Writers take words seriously-perhaps the last professional class that does-and they struggle to steer their...

Writers take words seriously-perhaps the last professional class that does-and they struggle to steer their...

Existence itself does not feel horrible; it feels like an ecstasy, rather, which we have...

Existence itself does not feel horrible; it feels like an ecstasy, rather, which we have...

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...

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

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

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

When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a...

When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a...

The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents....

The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents....

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...

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,...

War settles nothing.

War settles nothing.

I declare that civil war is inevitable and is near at hand. When it comes...

I declare that civil war is inevitable and is near at hand. When it comes...

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to...

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to...