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

But for a few phrases from his letters and an odd line or two of...

But for a few phrases from his letters and an odd line or two of...

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

Four years was enough of Harvard. I still had a lot to learn, but had...

Four years was enough of Harvard. I still had a lot to learn, but had...

Sex is like money; only too much is enough.

Sex is like money; only too much is enough.

That a marriage ends is less than ideal; but all things end under heaven, and...

That a marriage ends is less than ideal; but all things end under heaven, and...

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...

There is no pleasing New Englanders, my dear, their soil is all rocks and their...

There is no pleasing New Englanders, my dear, their soil is all rocks and their...

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,...

Americans have been conditioned to respect newness, whatever it costs them.

Americans have been conditioned to respect newness, whatever it costs them.

In memory's telephoto lens, far objects are magnified.

In memory's telephoto lens, far objects are magnified.

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...

How do you write women so well? I think of a man and I take...

How do you write women so well? I think of a man and I take...

Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing...

Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing...

A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own...

A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own...

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...

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

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....

I am the slave of my baptism. Parents, you have caused my misfortune, and you...

I am the slave of my baptism. Parents, you have caused my misfortune, and you...

These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed...

These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed...

Mum and dad were very much friends, and up to life. There was no anxiety...

Mum and dad were very much friends, and up to life. There was no anxiety...

The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same....

The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same....