Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing in the open sea.

Quote by John Updike

Topics: John Updike Quotes

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,...

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...

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 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...

I secretly understood: the primitive appeal of the hearth. Television is-its irresistible charm-a fire.

I secretly understood: the primitive appeal of the hearth. Television is-its irresistible charm-a fire.

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...

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

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

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...

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...

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...

The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions,...

The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions,...

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

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.

Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately

Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately

It was one of history's great love stories, the mutually profitable romance which Hollywood and...

It was one of history's great love stories, the mutually profitable romance which Hollywood and...

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...

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...

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...

For male and female alike, the bodies of the other sex are messages signaling what...

For male and female alike, the bodies of the other sex are messages signaling what...

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.

By the time a partnership dissolves, it has dissolved.