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
Similar quotes
There's no real excuse for being successful enough as an actor to do what you want and then selling out. You do it pure. You don't try to adapt it, make it commercial.
Clint EastwoodRead
Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's okay to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless.
Magnus CarlsenRead
I'm at the top of my game so, when I win or lose, I don't freak out...I don't think we can call it a rivalry yet. There's just to many great players around.
Roger FedererRead
If you want to establish an international presence you can't do so from New York. You need the consecration of Paris.
Oscar De La RentaRead
When we begin to experience our life as the miraculous expression of divinity - not occasionally, but all the time - then we will know the true meaning of success.
Deepak ChopraRead
Vision without execution is daydreaming.
Bill GatesRead