John Updike Quotes

Poetry was invented as an mnemonic device to enable people to remember their prayers.

You've got so much confidence if you start making big putts because you know you just need to hit the greens, and you've got yourself a good opportunity for the birdies.

I don't remember what was going through my mind, but what was going through my body was fear and terror. I had been on the road with Johnny and working gigs and playing a lot of the organ clubs.

Even though we know the origin of diseases, panic sweeps. It's one thing that frightens us, because it's your health and your body - it's more like a tangible threat; it's not like a foreign enemy you can fight. That was really what was uppermost to many of us whilst making 'Black Death.'

I kept having chills. This was in the middle of the summer and I was wearing a sheepskin jacket and I was chilling. I was shaking all over.

You can tell a good putt by the noise it makes.

If you act scared, your body produces adrenaline.

One trick, known as the journey method or 'memory palace,' is to conjure up a familiar space in the mind's eye, and then populate it with images of whatever it is you want to remember.

I'm not a type-B personality who knows I have a cancer growing inside of me and can live with the knowledge. I go into a kung-fu attack position when I go through the door of a hospital.

Chronic Lyme causes arthritis, heart problems, stroke - even death.

I'm a complete hypochondriac. If my heart starts beating a little faster than normal, I think I'm having an attack.

I'm constantly in fear of having a stroke.

The earliest sensation at the onset of illness, often preceding the recognition of identifiable symptoms, is apprehension. Something has gone wrong, and a glimpse of mortality shifts somewhere deep in the mind. It is the most ancient of our fears.

I am blood type O-positive, which I remember by staying 'optimistic positive.'

I just remember really loving words and writing about anything I could, and the way I'd remember things, like my library card number, was to make a melody.

I do not want to be 36 years old and can hardly walk.

I feel my sinews slackened with the fright, and a cold sweat trills down all over my limbs, as if I were dissolving into water.

When I got to the first tee on the first day, to hear the cheers, it was like all the oxygen got sucked out. It was hard to pull the club back.

Lick the alphabet. It makes you appear creative, it's an easy diagram to remember, it's like "aaaaa.... beeeee.... ceeee.

I durst not laugh for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air.

I used to be afraid of things like strokes, but I've now discovered that the fear of the stroke is worse than the stroke itself.

I become faint and nauseous during even very minor medical procedures, such as making an appointment by phone.

I never forget,” Myrnin said in a choked whisper. “Certainly not with your nails in my throat. They’re quite an excellent mnemonic device.

I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "What's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?" "Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid.

It was right after 9/11 and I decided to walk around the grounds of the Pentagon, because I had never been there. Out of nowhere comes this speeding camouflaged golf cart and this guy starts yelling at me, 'What do you think you're doing!' The guy wrote my name down and began to follow me before I got really scared and took off as fast as I could.