John Updike Quotes

A collection of quotes by John Updike.

John Updike was an acclaimed American novelist, poet, and critic, hailed as one of the most influential literary figures of the 20th century. Born on March 18, 1932, in Shillington, Pennsylvania, Updike excelled academically from a young age. He studied English at Harvard University, where he became president of the Harvard Lampoon, a renowned humor magazine.

Updike embarked on his writing career as a staff writer for The New Yorker in 1955, quickly establishing himself as a prolific and versatile writer. Known for his precise prose, rich characterizations, and astute observations of American middle-class life, Updike authored more than 60 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry, and essays.

His most renowned works include the Rabbit Angstrom tetralogy, consisting of Rabbit, Run (1960), Rabbit Redux (1971), Rabbit Is Rich (1981), and Rabbit at Rest (1990). These novels follow the life of Harry â€œRabbitâ€ Angstrom, a former high school basketball star turned troubled everyman. Updike's exploration of Rabbit's life over several decades earned him numerous awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction (for Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit at Rest).

Throughout his career, Updike skillfully depicted the struggles and aspirations of the American middle class, often delving into themes of sexuality, religion, and the complexities of modern relationships. His profound intellect and ability to capture the essence of American life have solidified his place among the literary greats. John Updike passed away on January 27, 2009, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of literary works.

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; with

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.

Existence itself does not feel horrible it feels like an ecs

Existence itself does not feel horrible it feels like an ecstasy, rather, which we have only to be still to experience.

I would especially like to re-court the Muse of poetry, who

I would especially like to re-court the Muse of poetry, who ran off with the mailman four years ago, and drops me only a scribbled postcard from time to time.

Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not

Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.

Americans have been conditioned to respect newness, whatever

Americans have been conditioned to respect newness, whatever it costs them.

Bankruptcy is a sacred state, a condition beyond conditions,

Bankruptcy is a sacred state, a condition beyond conditions, as theologians might say, and attempts to investigate it are necessarily obscene, like spiritualism. One knows only that he has passed into it and lives beyond us, in a condition not ours.

Government is either organized benevolence or organized madn

Government is either organized benevolence or organized madness its peculiar magnitude permits no shading.

School is where you go between when your parents can't take

School is where you go between when your parents can't take you, and industry can't take you.

That a marriage ends is less than ideal but all things end u

That a marriage ends is less than ideal but all things end under heaven, and if temporality is held to be invalidating, then nothing real succeeds.

But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal

But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it.

Inspirational

But it is just two lovers, holding hands and in a hurry to r

But it is just two lovers, holding hands and in a hurry to reach their car, their locked hands a starfish leaping through the dark.

Love Inspirational Lovers Metaphor Imagery Beauty In Literature Suggestive

If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay you

If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.

Inspirational

Natural beauty is essentially temporary and sad; hence the i

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

Beauty

There was a beauty here, refined from country pastures, a ga

There was a beauty here, refined from country pastures, a game of solitariness, of waiting, waiting for the pitcher to complete his gaze toward first base and throw his lightning, a game whose very taste, of spit and dust and grass and sweat and leather and sun, was America.

Beauty Game Games

It was one of history's great love stories, the mutually pro

It was one of history's great love stories, the mutually profitable romance which Hollywood and bohunk America conducted almost in the dark, a tapping of fervent messages through the wall of the San Gabriel Range.

Love History

I must go to Nature disarmed of perspective and stretch myse

I must go to Nature disarmed of perspective and stretch myself like a large transparent canvas upon her in the hope that, my submission being perfect, the imprint of a beautiful and useful truth would be taken.

Truth Nature

The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children w

The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education.

Education

My father was a scared man. And he communicated his anxiety

My father was a scared man. And he communicated his anxiety to me, so that perhaps more than most writers I wanted to make a practical go of it. And my career was eminently practical. I fastened on to this magazine, the New Yorker, that seemed to me to be the top of its class and I tried to get into it, and I did get into it. It was kind of calculating. Kind of crass.But I framed it to myself as a kind of altruistic ambition. Most jobs in the world were competitive, you had to push someone aside, but writing and art I thought weren't like that. You brought something new into the world without displacing anything else. To entertain people, or to hold out a standard of beauty or to even inform them seemed so self-evidently out of what my father called the rat race. Dog eat dog, in his phrase. He had a despairing picture of the capitalist world, as losers in that system tend to do.

Authors & Writing

Being a famous writer is a little like being a tall dwarf. Y

Being a famous writer is a little like being a tall dwarf. You're on the edge of normality.

Fame

Dreams come true without that possibility, nature would not

Dreams come true without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.

Dreams