Home / Quotes / Quote by John Updike

Quote by John Updike

“Affairs, ... , like everything else, ask too much.”

Quote by John Updike

Author

John Updike was an American novelist known for his profound insights into middle-class life and his delicate narrative skills. His works spanned a wide range of genres from short stories to novels, including the classic 'Rabbit, Run' series and 'The Centaur'. more

You May Also Like

“The difference between a childhood and a boyhood must be this: our childhood is what we alone have had; our boyhood is what any boy in our environment would have had.”

Children Differences Boys Environment Childhood Our Children Our Environment Boyhood

Book:Assorted Prose

Source: Assorted Prose

“Critics are like pigs at the pastry cart.”

Past Critics Pigs Carts Pastries Pastry Chef

Author:John Updike

“I never made a decision in my life that wasn't one hundred per cent selfish.”

Made Decision Hundred Selfish Cents

Author:John Updike

“Those running tights the young women wear now, so they look like spacewomen, raspberry red and electric green so tight they show every muscle right into the crack between the buttocks, what is the point of them? Display. Young animals need to display.”

Needs Looks Shows Running Young Animal Red Green Muscles Cracks Display Electric Young Women Tights Buttocks Raspberries

Book:Rabbit at Rest

Source: Rabbit at Rest

“All men are mortal, and therefore all men are losers; our profoundest loyalty goes out to the failed.”

Men Failure Loyalty Mortals Loser

Book:Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism

Source: Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism

“Within your own generation-the same songs, the same wars, the same attitudes toward those wars, the same rules and radio shows in the air-you can gauge the possibilities and impossibilities. With a person of another generation, you are treading water, playing with fire.”

Persons War Shows Song Water Attitude Fire Generations Air Possibility Radio Impossibility Gauges Treading Playing With Fire Treading Water

Book:Rabbit at Rest

Source: Rabbit at Rest

“We all begin life as parasites within the mother, and writers begin their existence imitatively, within the body of letters.”

Body Mother Existence Letters Imitation Parasites

Book:Assorted Prose

Source: Assorted Prose

“As I get older, my childhood self becomes more accessible to me, but selectively, in images as stylized and suspect as moments remembered from a novel read years ago.”

Life Years Self Moments Novel Childhood Years Ago Remembered Suspects

Book:Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism

Source: Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism

“Movies are, like sharp sunlight, merciless; we do not imagine, we view.”

Views Imagine Movie Sunlight

Book:Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism

Source: Odd Jobs: Essays and Criticism

“The New England spirit does not seek solutions in a crowd; raw light and solitariness are less dreaded than welcomed as enhancers of our essential selves.”

Doe Self Light Spirit Essentials Solutions England Crowds New England

Author:John Updike