"Figure out where you're going before you..." - Quote by John Updike
Figure out where you're going before you go there: he was told that a long time ago.
More by John Updike
“The firmest house in my fiction, probably, is the little thick-walled sandstone farmhouse of 'The Centaur' and 'Of the Farm'; I had lived in that house, and can visualize every floorboard and bit of worn molding.”
“What seems to sell books is good word-of-mouth, not promotion tours. I'm too old to believe that media promotion of a book really matters. What matters is how it will look 100 years from now, not how many copies are sold.”
“Truth should not be forced; it should simply manifest itself, like a woman who has in her privacy reflected and coolly decided to bestow herself upon a certain man.”
More on Planning
“When we mean to build, We first survey the plot, then draw the model; And when we see the figure of the house, Then must we rate the cost of the erection.”
“My core philosophy on winning and motivation is summed up by saying that you were born to win, but in order to be the winner you were born to be, you have to plan to win and prepare to win before you can expect to win.”
“Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.”
More on Direction
“You're on a positive road. You have some type of direction where you're going, so you have to just keep on going.”
“You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there.”
“The last few years I've been saying I was ready to quit. It wasn't that interesting to me. Now that I'm directing, it's all new again.”