Now that I am sixty, I see why the idea of elder wisdom has passed from currency.

Quote by John Updike

Topics: John Updike Quotes

Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately

Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately

I love my government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone.

I love my government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone.

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.

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...

Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the...

Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the...

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...

A narrative is like a room on whose walls a number of false doors have...

A narrative is like a room on whose walls a number of false doors have...

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.

Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer...

Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer...

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.

Sex is like money; only too much is enough.

Sex is like money; only too much is enough.

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,...

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...

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...

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

School is where you go between when your parents can't take you, and industry can't...

School is where you go between when your parents can't take you, and industry can't...

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 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,...

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...