"For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the noise of battle. It has the power to give grief or universality that lends it a youthful beauty."

Sadness

Create & Download Quote Image

Customize Design

Theme Color

Insight & Reflection

Words carry weight, and John Cheever's insight into sadness is no exception. It serves as a gentle reminder that amidst the chaos of modern life, timeless wisdom still holds the power to guide our decisions and clarify our values.

About John Cheever

John William Cheever was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs; old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was born; and Italy, especially Rome. His short stories included "The Enormous Radio", "Goodbye, My Brother", "The Five-Forty-Eight", "The Country Husband", and "The Swimmer", and he also wrote five novels: The Wapshot Chronicle ,
The Wapshot Scandal, Bullet Park (1969), Falconer (1977) and a novella, Oh What a Paradise It Seems (1982).

More quotes by John Cheever →
Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the ShortQuote Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by John Cheever

"Wisdom we know is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the two."

— John Cheever
Read more →

"When I remember my family, I always remember their backs. They were always indignantly leaving places."

— John Cheever
Read more →

"All literary men are Red Sox fans - to be a Yankee fan in a literate society is to endanger your life."

— John Cheever
Read more →

"Fear tastes like a rusty knife and do not let her into your house."

— John Cheever
Read more →

More about Sadness

"The day you think there is no improvements to be made is a sad one for any player."

— Lionel Messi
Read more →

"It feels really sad, to me, to go to a dark bedroom. It's like surrendering to the night or something."

— James Franco
Read more →

"I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless; That only men incredulous of despair, Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air Beat upward to God's throne in loud access Of shrieking and reproach."

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Read more →

"I took an acting class. After the first day, the teacher quit, so they said take another. When I saw 'How to be a Stand-up Comedian,' it resonated. I realized I'd rather make 200 people laugh than make one person cry."

— Wendy Liebman
Read more →
View all Sadness quotes →