Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a Second Coming that would not be cut down to size by the televised evening news, or a Last Judgment not subject to pages of holier-than-thou second-guessing…

Quote by John Updike

Topics: Books Quotes

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

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

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...

An affair wants to spill, to share its glory with the world. No act is...

An affair wants to spill, to share its glory with the world. No act is...

Perfectionism is the enemy of creation, as extreme self-solitude is the enemy of well-being.

Perfectionism is the enemy of creation, as extreme self-solitude is the enemy of well-being.

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

The city overwhelmed our expectations. The Kiplingesque grandeur of Waterloo Station, the Eliotic despondency of...

The city overwhelmed our expectations. The Kiplingesque grandeur of Waterloo Station, the Eliotic despondency of...

We are most alive when we're in love.

We are most alive when we're in love.

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...

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.

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

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

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...

We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent,...

We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent,...

Many men are more faithful to their golf partners than to their wives and have...

Many men are more faithful to their golf partners than to their wives and have...

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...

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...

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

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,...

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...

From the time I was 7 or 8 years old, we were the roughest knockabout...

From the time I was 7 or 8 years old, we were the roughest knockabout...

The biographer who writes the life of his subject's self-concept passes through a fade into...

The biographer who writes the life of his subject's self-concept passes through a fade into...

Shall Life renew these bodies? Of a truth All death will he annul, all tears...

Shall Life renew these bodies? Of a truth All death will he annul, all tears...