Quotations from “The Persistence of Desire”
John Updike
1932-2009 American

The one new thing, set squarely on an orange end table, was a compact black clock constructed like a speedometer; it showed in Arabic numerals the present minute—1:28—and coiled invisibly in its works the two infinites of past and future. Clyde was early; the waiting room was empty. He sat down on a chair opposite the clock. Already it was 1:29, and while he watched, the digits slipped again; another drop into the brimming void.
—John Updike, “The Persistence of Desire”

“Clyde, I thought you were successful. I thought you had beautiful children. Aren't you happy?”

“I am, I am; but”—the rest was so purely inspired its utterance only grazed his lips—“happiness isn't everything.”
—John Updike, “The Persistence of Desire”

...he became a child again in this town, where life was a distant adventure, a rumor, an always imminent joy.
—John Updike, “The Persistence of Desire”