If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
New York is a city with virtually no habitable public space - only private spaces expensively maintained within the general disaster.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the lack of accessible public spaces in New York City, emphasizing the contrast with expensive private spaces.
John Updike's quote highlights a significant issue in urban living, particularly in New York City, where the scarcity of affordable and accessible public spaces creates a divide between the wealthy and the general population. It reflects on the paradox of a bustling metropolis where the only maintained spaces are private, suggesting that the vibrancy and communal spirit of city life are overshadowed by a prioritization of exclusive and costly environments.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a discussion about urban development and the importance of public parks.
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.
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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.
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.
To guarantee the individual maximum freedom within a social frame of minimal laws ensures - if not happiness - its hopeful pursuit.
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I was unloading sides of beef down on the docks when I decided enough was enough. By then, I'd done a lot of reading on my own, so I persuaded New York University to enroll me.
In spite of the opinions of certain narrow-minded people who would shut up the human race upon this globe, we shall one day travel to the Moon, the planets, and the stars with the same facility, rapidity and certainty as we now make the ocean voyage from Liverpool to New York.
I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I'll be okay. It really helped me as a child, and that never left me. So I have a special place for every library, in my heart of hearts.
Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place.