If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
The essential self is innocent, and when it tastes its own innocence knows that it lives for ever.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The core of our being is pure and innocent, and recognizing this leads to a sense of eternal life.
This quote by John Updike suggests that at our very essence, we possess an innocence that is untainted by the world. When we become aware of this inherent purity within ourselves, we simultaneously grasp the concept of our immortality, not in a physical sense but in the impact and legacy we leave behind, reinforcing the idea that our true self transcends temporal existence.
Themes
InnocenceSelfEternityPurityExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about self-discovery, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of understanding one's true nature.
More from John Updike
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Museums and bookstores should feel, I think, like vacant lots - places where the demands on us are our own demands, where the spirit can find exercise in unsupervised play.
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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.
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The reader knows the writer better than he knows himself; but the writer's physical presence is light from a star that has moved on.
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To guarantee the individual maximum freedom within a social frame of minimal laws ensures - if not happiness - its hopeful pursuit.
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