Truth should not be forced; it should simply manifest itself, like a woman who has in her privacy reflected and coolly decided to bestow herself upon a certain man.
John Updike

Until the 20th century it was generally assumed that a writer had said what he had to say in his works.
John Updike

We are most alive when we're in love.
John Updike

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

We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable.
John Updike

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

When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a vague spot a little to the east of Kansas.
John Updike

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

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