Of plants tomatoes seemed the most human, eager and fragile and prone to rot. – John Updike
The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education. – John Updike
You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it. – John Updike
We do survive every moment, after all, except the last one. – John Updike
What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world. – Robert E. Lee, letter to his wife, 1864