If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
Think binary. When matter meets antimatter, both vanish, into pure energy. But both existed; I mean, there was a condition we'll call "existence." Think of one and minus one. Together they add up to zero, nothing, nada, niente, right? Picture them together, then picture them separating-peeling apart. ... Now you have something, you have two somethings, where once you had nothing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote explores the relationship between existence and non-existence through the lens of binary concepts.
In this quote, John Updike uses the metaphor of matter and antimatter to illustrate the principle that existence and non-existence are intertwined. He suggests that from a state of nothingness, when two opposites come into play, they create existence, emphasizing the idea that oppositional concepts can coalesce to form reality and meaning.
Themes
ExistenceNon-ExistenceBinaryOppositesEnergy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the nature of reality in a philosophy class.
More from John Updike
All quotes →Dost 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.
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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.
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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