The creative writer uses his life as well as being its victim; he can control, in his work, the self-presentation that in actuality is at the mercy of a thousand accidents.

Quote by John Updike

Topics: Writers 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....

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...

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...

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

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,...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own...

A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own...

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...

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.

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 are most alive when we're in love.

We are most alive when we're in love.

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 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 love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to...

We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to...

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.