The city overwhelmed our expectations. The Kiplingesque grandeur of Waterloo Station, the Eliotic despondency of the brick row in Chelsea the Dickensian nightmare of fog and sweating pavement and besmirched cornices.

Quote by John Updike

Topics: Expectation Quotes

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...

Every marriage tends to consist of an aristocrat and a peasant. Of a teacher and...

Every marriage tends to consist of an aristocrat and a peasant. Of a teacher and...

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...

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.

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...

The creative writer uses his life as well as being its victim; he can control,...

The creative writer uses his life as well as being its victim; he can control,...

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...

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...

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

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

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...

It is not difficult to deceive the first time, for the deceived possesses no antibodies;...

It is not difficult to deceive the first time, for the deceived possesses no antibodies;...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

I just love biography, and I'm fascinated by people who have shifted our destinies or...

I just love biography, and I'm fascinated by people who have shifted our destinies or...

Biography, like big game hunting, is one of the recognized forms of sport, and it...

Biography, like big game hunting, is one of the recognized forms of sport, and it...

You will not find poetry anywhere unless you bring some of it with you.

You will not find poetry anywhere unless you bring some of it with you.