"To be President of the United States,..." - Quote by John Updike

“I think books should have secrets, like people do.”

“I picked up 'On Moral Fiction' in the bookstore and looked up myself in the index, but I didn't read it through. I try not to read things that depress me.”

“I've always tried to write about America. It's very worth a writer's effort.”

“The best lesson that any people can learn is that there is no patent cure-all which will make the body politic perfect, and that any man who is able glibly to answer every question as to how to deal with the evils of the body politic is at best a foolish visionary and at worst an evil-minded quack.”

“Everything a politician promises at election time has to be paid for either by higher taxation or by borrowing.”

“The fastest way for a politician to become an elder statesman is to lose an election.”

“At the same time Reverend Galamison policy is intelligent enough where he can't be used to attack me.”

“Lenity will operate with greater force, in some instances, than rigor. It is, therefore, my first wish, to have my whole conduct distinguished by it.”

“American leadership is not simply a matter of going it alone and bearing all of the burden ourselves.”