John Updike

"Professionalism in art has this difficulty: To be professional is to be dependable, to be dependable is to be predictable, and predictability is esthetically boring - an anti-virtue in a field where we hope to be astonished and startled and at some deep level refreshed."

"Professionalism in art has this difficulty: To be professional is to be dependable, to be dependable is to be predictable, and predictability is esthetically boring - an anti-virtue in a field where we hope to be astonished and startled and at some deep level refreshed."

"Professionalism in art has this difficulty: To be professional is to be dependable, to be dependable is to be predictable, and predictability is esthetically boring - an anti-virtue in a field where we hope to be astonished and startled and at some deep level refreshed."

"Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life."

"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit."

"Humor is my default mode."

"Being able to write becomes a kind of shield, a way of hiding, a way of too instantly transforming pain into honey."

"Professionalism in art has this difficulty: To be professional is to be dependable, to be dependable is to be predictable, and predictability is esthetically boring - an anti-virtue in a field where we hope to be astonished and startled and at some deep level refreshed."

"Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."

"American art in general... takes to surreal exaggerations and metaphors; but its Puritan work ethic has little use for the playful self-indulgence behind Parisian Surrealism."

"Art is like baby shoes. When you coat them with gold, they can no longer be worn."

"The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding."