When we try in good faith to believe in materialism, in the exclusive reality of the physical, we are asking our selves to step aside; we are disavowing the very realm where we exist and where all things precious are kept - the realm of emotion and conscience, of memory and intention and sensation.
John UpdikeIn a democracy in the 20th and 21st century, if you can't base your fiction upon ordinary people and the issues that engage them, then you are reduced to writing about spectacular unreal people. You know, James Bond or something, and you cook up adventures.
John UpdikeMost of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went.
John UpdikeHope bases vast premises on foolish accidents, and reads a word where in fact only a scribble exists.
John Updike