If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Children reflect the complexities of human existence rather than merely providing amusement.
In this quote, John Updike suggests that children serve as reflections of our own emotions, struggles, and experiences, rather than being just sources of entertainment. They mirror the intricacies of life, highlighting the joys and challenges faced by adults, which can lead us to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the human condition.
Themes
ChildrenReflectionHuman ConditionUnderstandingPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a parenting workshop focused on personal growth.
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.
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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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I hope I'm worthy in my dying. I hope I can maintain myself - that I wouldn't become pathetic and needy, and the worst part of myself come out in adversity. But I'm not afraid of it. It'd be such a silly thing to do! To ruin the life you have by fearing its ending.
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Pure libertarianism believes that people will be generous and help each other. Well, they won't. I wish it were so, and I live that way. I help panhandlers, but other people are, 'Oh look at that - why doesn't he get a job?' While I believe in all that freedom, I also believe that no one should suffer needlessly.
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Why were you so old when we met? I answered with the truth: Age isn't how old you are but how old you feel.
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When I am silent, I have thunder hidden inside.
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The unvarnished truth is that we have spent the last decade funding the machinery of war, and our children have been sacrificed.
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...My point is, I went crazy. When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was. I went crazy as a coot! I admit it! Why can't you?
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