The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of religion.

Quote by John Updike

Topics: John Updike Quotes

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...

How do you write women so well? I think of a man and I take...

How do you write women so well? I think of a man and I take...

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,...

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...

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,...

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

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....

Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad; hence the impression of obscene mockery which artificial...

Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad; hence the impression of obscene mockery which artificial...

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...

In memory's telephoto lens, far objects are magnified.

In memory's telephoto lens, far objects are magnified.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

Writers may be disreputable, incorrigible, early to decay or late to bloom but they dare...

Writers may be disreputable, incorrigible, early to decay or late to bloom but they dare...

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.

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

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

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...

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...