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

Quote by John Updike

Topics: John Updike Quotes

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,...

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

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

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

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

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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 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...

The first breath of adultery is the freest; after it, constraints aping marriage develop.

The first breath of adultery is the freest; after it, constraints aping marriage develop.

To be President of the United States, sir, is to act as advocate for a...

To be President of the United States, sir, is to act as advocate for a...

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

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...

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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...

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...

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...