That a marriage ends is less than ideal; but all things end under heaven, and if temporality is held to be invalidating, then nothing real succeeds.

Quote by John Updike

Topics: John Updike Quotes

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...

Until the 20th century it was generally assumed that a writer had said what he...

Until the 20th century it was generally assumed that a writer had said what he...

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit.

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit.

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...

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

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...

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.

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...

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...

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 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...

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.

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...

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

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

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...

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...

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....

If at first you don't succeed, blame your parents

If at first you don't succeed, blame your parents

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was...

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was...

All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting to encounter yourself.

All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting to encounter yourself.

Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness, -- an open and...

Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness, -- an open and...