A Quote by 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.

John Updike

Quote Topics

Art Hope Anti Astonished Boring Deep Dependable Difficulty Field Level Predictability Predictable Professional Professionalism Refreshed Some Startled Virtue

Quote Author

John Updike
American - Novelist
March 18, 1932 - January 27, 2009

I know I'm honest and dependable, usually. I know I'm always dependable for my wife. I'm always at home and I'm always there to help.

Joe Lando

Mr. Speaker, our Nation depends on immigrants' labor, and I hope we can create an immigration system as dependable as they are.

Luis Gutierrez

Some players get over-dependable on their coaches.

Ion Tiriac

Thus, for those who are willing to go out into the field, to look and to listen, changing demographics is both a highly productive and a highly dependable innovation opportunity.

Peter Drucker

From another direction he felt the sensation of being a sheep startled by a flying saucer, but it was virtually indistinguishable from the feeling of being a sheep startled by anything else it ever encountered, for they were creatures who learned very little on their journey through life, and would be startled to see the sun rising in the morning, and astonished by all the green stuff in the fields.

Douglas Adams

Doctors, dressed up in one professional costume or another, have been in busy practice since the earliest records of every culture on earth. It is hard to think of a more dependable or enduring occupation, harder still to imagine any future events leading to its extinction.

Lewis Thomas

Ain't no glory made from being dependable.

Esi Edugyan

I'm consistent, and they know I don't waver and all that. I'm dependable.

Rush Limbaugh

We try to create a situation where we're the casino. It's like how an actuary would set insurance rates. Predictability, predictability, predictability. What's the path to least risk? What's the greater chance of getting some return on this asset?