Quotes from Updike

his silence he has indicated that he is willing. He hasn't the strength any more, the excess vitality, for an affair—its danger, its demand performances, the secrecy added like a filigree to your normal life, your gnawing preoccupation with it and with the constant threat of its being discovered and ended.

Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing in the open sea.