If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
When I was born, my parents and my mother's parents planted a dogwood tree in the side yard of the large white house in which we lived throughout my boyhood. This tree I learned quite early, was exactly my age - was, in a sense, me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The dogwood tree symbolizes a connection between the author and their childhood.
In this quote, John Updike reflects on the deep connection he feels with a dogwood tree planted at the time of his birth. This tree, growing alongside him throughout his boyhood, represents not only the passage of time but also the intimate relationship between nature and human life, emphasizing how our surroundings can mirror our own development and experiences.
Themes
DogwoodTreeChildhoodNatureGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
A touching remembrance at a family gathering can incorporate this quote.
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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There's a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.
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It keeps eternal whisperings around desolate shores
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