If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The reader gains deeper insights into the writer's thoughts and emotions than the writer may have about himself, as the writer's past shape their present.
This quote suggests that readers often gain a profound understanding of a writer's identity through their works, perhaps even more so than the writer understands themselves. It highlights the idea that a writer's creations, much like light from a distant star, reveal aspects of their character and experiences that are permanently part of the past, even if the writer has moved on from those moments in time.
Themes
WriterReaderUnderstandingIdentityReflection
In practice
Example use cases
In a literary discussion, one might say this quote to emphasize how literature reveals the author's inner self.
More from John Updike
All quotes βDost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of. _x000D_ _x000D_ Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings.
John UpdikeRead
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.
John UpdikeRead
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.
John UpdikeRead
To guarantee the individual maximum freedom within a social frame of minimal laws ensures - if not happiness - its hopeful pursuit.
John UpdikeRead
Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went.
John UpdikeRead
Similar quotes
Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true.
Julius CaesarRead
Air power is indivisible. If you split it up into compartments, you merely pull it to pieces and destroy its greatest asset - its flexibility.
Bernard Law MontgomeryRead
It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.
Bill WattersonRead
I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.
Mahatma GandhiRead
For those struggling in midstream, in great fear of the flood, of growing old and of dying for all those I say, an island exists where there is no place for impediments, no place for clinging: the island of no going beyond. I call it nirvana, the complete destruction of old age and dying.
Gautama BuddhaRead
I think that there are real concerns that we have around whose life is important and why. So if the official story is, for example, somebody was running from the police, does their life matter?
Alicia GarzaRead