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

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be men,...

If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be men,...

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.

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,...

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...

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...

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...