In a democracy in the 20th and 21st century, if you can't base your fiction upon ordinary people and the issues that engage them, then you are reduced to writing about spectacular unreal people. You know, James Bond or something, and you cook up adventures.

John Updike

Categorized in : Adventure Writing Issues

It is easy to love people in memory; the hard thing is to love them when they are there in front of you.

lovely memories people

Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered. by John Updike

Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.

materials inspiration literature

Perfectionism is the enemy of creation, as extreme self- solitude... by John Updike

Perfectionism is the enemy of creation, as extreme self- solitude is the enemy of well- being.

acceptance perfection self

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

experience doe life

Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not inci... by John Updike

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

dream success positive

Do what the heart commands. The heart is our only guide. by John Updike

Do what the heart commands. The heart is our only guide.

guides guidance heart

Life is a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs unless you... by John Updike

Life is a roller coaster, you have your ups and downs unless you fall off.

roller-coaster life fall

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

decay success writing

Living is a compromise, between doing what you want and doing wha... by John Updike

Living is a compromise, between doing what you want and doing what other people want.

doing-what-you-want compromise people

I want to write books that unlock the traffic jam in everybody's... by John Updike

I want to write books that unlock the traffic jam in everybody's head.

novelists writing book

Looking foolish does the spirit good. The need not to look foolish is one of youth's many burdens; as we get older we are exempted from more and more.

doe looks needs

I like old men. They can be wonderful bastards because they have nothing to lose. The only people who can be themselves are babies and old bastards.

baby men people

Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic un-interestingness as an intellectual position. Where was the ingenuity, the ambiguity, the humanity of saying that the universe just happened to happen and that when we're dead we're dead?

atheist intellectual humanity

Sex is like money; only too much is enough. by John Updike

Sex is like money; only too much is enough.

funny-money too-much sex

The artist brings something into the world that didn't exist before, and he does it without destroying something else.

artist doe world

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without r... by John Updike

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

rain sky life

In a country this large and a language even larger ... there ought to be a living for somebody who cares and wants to entertain and instruct a reader.

who-cares writing country

If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your pri... by John Updike

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

being-yourself pay people

Government [is] an illusion the governed should not encourage. by John Updike

Government [is] an illusion the governed should not encourage.

illusion government should

Being naked approaches being revolutionary; going barefoot is mer... by John Updike

Being naked approaches being revolutionary; going barefoot is mere populism.

naked revolutionary beauty