If you have the guts to be yourself, other people'll pay your price.
John UpdikeRead
We were all brought up to want things and maybe the world isn't big enough for all that wanting. I don't know. I don't know anything
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on human desire and the limitations of the world in satisfying those desires.
John Updike's quote expresses a deep uncertainty about the nature of human desire and fulfillment. It suggests that while society conditions us to yearn for various desires, the reality is that the world may not have the capacity to meet those endless wants, leaving us in a state of doubt and confusion about our aspirations and existence.
Themes
DesireWantingUncertaintyFulfillmentExistence
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker at a philosophical seminar discussing the nature of human happiness and desires referencing this quote.
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.
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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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