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

Quote by John Updike

Topics: Perfection Quotes

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....

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...

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.

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

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

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...

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...

Government is either organized benevolence or organized madness; its peculiar magnitude permits no shading.

Government is either organized benevolence or organized madness; its peculiar magnitude permits no shading.

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...

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

Each morning my characters greet me with misty faces willing, though chilled, to muster for...

Each morning my characters greet me with misty faces willing, though chilled, to muster for...

Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a Second...

Our brains are no longer conditioned for reverence and awe. We cannot imagine a Second...

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...

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...

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself...

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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,...

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...