# Rabbit at Rest - Author: [John Hoyer Updike](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike.md) - Quotes: 48 - Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest - JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest.json ## Quotes > He could have gone over that night and faced the music but how much music is a man supposed to face? [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/he-could-have.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > The smell of good advice always makes Rabbit want to run the other way. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/the-smell-of-good.md) Topics: [advice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/advice.md) > No matter how hard you climb, there are always the rich above you, who got there without effort. Lucky stiffs, holding you down, making you discontent so you buy more of the crap advertised on television. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/no-matter-how.md) Topics: [wealth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth.md), [jealousy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/jealousy.md), [advertising](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/advertising.md) > [Harry listening to car radio] ...he resents being made to realise, this late, that the songs of his life were as moronic as the rock the brainless kids now feed on, or the Sixties and Seventies stuff that Nelson gobbled up – all of it designed for empty heads and overheated hormones, an ocean white with foam, and listening to it now is like trying to eat a double banana split the way he used to. It's all disposable, cooked up to turn a quick profit. They lead us down the garden path, the music manufacturers, then turn around and lead the next generation down with a slightly different flavour of glop. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/harry-listening-to-car.md) Topics: [music](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/music.md) > One thing he knows is if he had to give parts of his life back the last thing he'd give back is the fucking. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/one-thing-he-knows.md) Topics: [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md) > [coming away from the doctor's after a check-up] Get interested is the advice, but in truth you are interested in less and less. It's Nature's way. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/coming-away-from.md) Topics: [old age](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age.md) > ...he tries to view his life as a brick of sorts, set in place with a slap in 1933 and hardening ever since, just one life in rows and walls and blocks of lives. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/he-tries-to-view.md) Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md) > Hard to believe God is always listening, never gets bored. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/hard-to-believe.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md) > Late in the game as it is, you keep trying. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/late-in-the.md) Topics: [perseverance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perseverance.md) > [Harry, talking about the doctor who came to the ward and then went away.] "That guy has a thing about potato chips and hot dogs. If God didn't want us to eat salt and fat, why did He make them taste so good?" [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/harry-talking-about.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [food](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/food.md) > Life is a hill that gets steeper the more you climb. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/life-is-a-hill.md) Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md) > In show business you learn to let it slide off your back. You know, fuck 'em. Otherwise you'd kill yourself. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/in-show-business.md) Topics: [criticism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism.md) > Not his problem. Fewer and fewer things are. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/not-his-problem.md) Topics: [old age](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age.md) > When you feel irresistable, you're hard to resist. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/when-you-feel.md) Topics: [self-confidence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-confidence.md) > She closes her eyes and wordlessly thinks of all the misery sex has caused the world... [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/she-closes-her.md) Topics: [suffering](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering.md), [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md) > "Who wants to fish, if you're halfway civilised? Dangling some dead meat in front of some poor brainless thing and then pulling him up by a hook in the roof of his mouth? Cruellest thing people do is fish." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/who-wants-to-fish.md) Topics: [animals](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals.md), [cruelty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty.md) > Something about being helpless in bed, people hit you up for sympathy. They've got you where they want you. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/something-about-being.md) Topics: [compassion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/compassion.md), [illness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illness.md) > [Pru] "...He's still trying to work out what you two did to him, as if you were the only parents in the world who didn't keep wiping their kid's ass until he was thirty. I tell him: Get real, Nelson. Lousy parents are par for the course. My God. Nothing's ideal." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/pru-hes-still.md) Topics: [parents](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/parents.md) > Women are actresses, tuning their part to each little audience. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/women-are-actresses.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md) > You can't say anything honest to women, they have minds like the FBI. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/you-cant-say.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [honesty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honesty.md) > There's more to being a human being than having your own way. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/theres-more-to-being.md) Topics: [selfishness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness.md) > [A grandchild barely able to remember Harry's own mother] But can Ma be no more than that in this child's memory? Do we dwindle so fast to next to nothing? [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/a-grandchild-barely.md) Topics: [death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death.md), [memory](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory.md) > ...a sense of defeat the years have brought back to him, after what seemed for a while to be triumphs. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/a-sense-of-defeat.md) Topics: [success and failure](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure.md) > Rabbit feels as if the human race is a vast colourful jostling bristling parade in which he is limping and falling behind. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/rabbit-feels-as-if-the.md) Topics: [old age](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age.md) > When she was a girl nobody had money but people had dreams. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/when-she-was.md) Topics: [money](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money.md), [dreams and aspirations](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dreams-and-aspirations.md) > He didn't have a worry in the world back then. He was in paradise and didn't know it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/he-didnt-have.md) Topics: [happiness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > [Judy, 8, is watching TV] He tells Judy, "Better pack it in, sweetie. Another big day tomorrow: we're going to go to the beach and sailing." But his voice comes out listless, and perhaps that is the saddest loss time brings, the lessening of excitement about anything. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/judy-8-is-watching.md) Topics: [old age](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > ...he feels a stifling uselessness in things, a kind of atomic decay whereby the precious glowing present turns, with each tick of the clock, into the leaden slag of history. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/he-feels-a-stifling.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > [Re Florida] Just not being senile is considered great down here. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/re-florida-just.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [old age](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age.md) > "Things change," says Mr Shimada. "Is world's sad secret." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/things-change-says.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > He supposes they pretty much have the picture. Most people do, in life. People know more than they let on. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/he-supposes-they.md) Topics: [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md) > God's country. He could have made it smaller and still made the same point. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/gods-country-he-could.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america.md) > "The papers exaggerate. They exaggerate everything, just to sell papers. The government exaggerates, to keep our minds off what morons they are." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/the-papers-exaggerate.md) Topics: [media](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media.md), [the state](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state.md) > [Thelma] "...You make your own punishments in life, I honest to God believe that. You get exactly what you deserve. God sees to it." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/thelma-you-make.md) Topics: [god](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god.md), [punishment](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/punishment.md) > He learned this much selling cars: offer the customer something he doesn't want, to make what he half-wants look better. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/he-learned-this.md) Topics: [manipulation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation.md), [business](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/business.md) > [re the human heart] That little electric twitch: without it we're so much rotting meat. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/re-the-human.md) Topics: [the body](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-body.md) > Your children's losing battle with time seems even sadder than your own. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/your-childrens-losing.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [children](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children.md) > [Dr Breit] "It's irrational, but so's the human species." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/dr-breit-its.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [human nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md) > A woman you've endured such a gnawing of desire for, you can't help bearing a little grudge against, when the ache is gone. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/a-woman-youve.md) Topics: [sexual desire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sexual-desire.md) > There is very little thanks in history. Dog eat dog. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/there-is-very.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [gratitude](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/gratitude.md) > Now nuns have blended into everybody else or else faded away. Vocations drying up, nobody wants to be selfless any more, everybody wants their fun. No more nuns, no more rabbis. No more good people, waiting to have their fun in the afterlife. The thing about the afterlife, it kept this life within bounds somehow, like the Russians. Now there's just Japan, and technology, and the profit motive, and getting all you can while you can. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/now-nuns-have.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [selfishness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness.md) > You don't know what you don't know. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/you-dont-know.md) Topics: [knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge.md) > ...there ought to be a law that we change identities and families every ten years or so. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/there-ought-to.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > "Whenever somebody tells me to do something my instinct's always to do the opposite. It's got me into a lot of trouble, but I've had a lot of fun." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/whenever-somebody-tells.md) Topics: [rebellion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rebellion.md) > When you're retired, you get into your routines and other people, even so-called loved ones, become a strain. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/when-youre-retired.md) Topics: [old age](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/old-age.md) > "...If you could ever get the poor to vote in this country, you'd have socialism. But people want to think rich. That's the genius of the capitalist system: either you're rich, or you want to be, or you think you ought to be." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/if-you-could.md) Topics: [capitalism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism.md) > Figure out where you're going before you go there: he was told that a long time ago. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/figure-out-where.md) Topics: [advice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/advice.md) > "Driving is boring," Rabbit pontificates, "but it's what we do. Most of American life is driving somewhere and then driving back wondering why the hell you went." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/driving-is-boring.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america.md)