If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
It's sort of good to see your vocation as a daily task and have fairly modest expectations for financial or reward in other coin - glory, love, whatever.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Finding fulfillment in your work is more important than seeking financial rewards.
John Updike suggests that viewing your vocation as a daily task allows for personal growth and satisfaction, even when financial gain or external recognition is modest. He emphasizes the importance of appreciating the intrinsic rewards of work, such as personal fulfillment, love, and glory, rather than focusing solely on monetary returns.
Themes
VocationFulfillmentRewardWorkSuccessLove
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about career choices, one might reference this quote to inspire individuals to find joy in their daily work.
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
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.
John UpdikeRead
To guarantee the individual maximum freedom within a social frame of minimal laws ensures - if not happiness - its hopeful pursuit.
John UpdikeRead
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