The Maples Stories Quotes

“Nobody belongs to us, except in memory.” ("Grandparenting" [1994])”
― John Updike, The Maples Stories

“This got him to the door. There, ridiculously, he turned. It was only at the door, he decided in retrospect, that her conduct was quite in excusable: not only did she stand unncessarily close, but, by shifting the weight of her body to one leg and leaning her head sidewise, she lowered her height several inches, placing him in a dominating position exactly suited to the broad, passive shadows she must have known were on her face." (“Snowing in Greenwich Village")”
― John Updike, The Maples Stories

“Nobody belongs to us, except in memory.”
― John Updike, The Maples Stories

“In life there are four forces: love, habit, time, and boredom. Love and habit at short range are immensely powerful, but time, lacking a minus charge, accumulates inexorably, and with its brother boredom levels all.”
― John Updike, The Maples Stories

“A tribe segregated in a valley develops an accent, then a dialect, and then a language all its own; so does a couple.”
― John Updike, The Maples Stories