“He had a sensation of anxiety and shame, a sensitivity acute beyond usefulness, as if the nervous system, flayed of its old hide of social usage, must record every touch of pain.”

—  John Updike

On Franz Kafka, quoted in report on Great Books discussion groups, New York Times (28 February 1985)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "He had a sensation of anxiety and shame, a sensitivity acute beyond usefulness, as if the nervous system, flayed of its…" by John Updike?
John Updike photo
John Updike 240
American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, an… 1932–2009

Related quotes

Hermann von Helmholtz photo

“As you are aware, no perceptions obtained by the senses are merely sensations impressed on our nervous systems.”

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) physicist and physiologist

"On the Physiological Causes of Harmony" (1857), p. 81
Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects (1881)
Context: As you are aware, no perceptions obtained by the senses are merely sensations impressed on our nervous systems. A peculiar intellectual activity is required to pass from a nervous sensation to the conception of an external object, which the sensation has aroused. The sensations of our nerves of sense are mere symbols indicating certain external objects, and it is usually only after considerable practice that we acquire the power of drawing correct conclusions from our sensations respecting the corresponding objects.

William Carlos Williams photo
Oliver Wendell Holmes photo
William Saroyan photo

“There was a touch of anxiety in the whole human race about its future.”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

First Visit to Armenia (1935)

Charlotte Perkins Gilman photo

“I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition.”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) American feminist, writer, commercial artist, lecturer and social reformer

Source: The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories

Clifford D. Simak photo
Daniel Dennett photo

“The earth has grown a nervous system, and it's us.”

Daniel Dennett (1942) American philosopher

The Genius of Charles Darwin (television, 2008)

“Capitalism had been more revolutionary then any previous social system. It had swept away without scruples old institutions and modes of thought, if they were found to stand in its way.”

Eric Roll, Baron Roll of Ipsden (1907–2005) British economist

Source: A History of Economic Thought (1939), Chapter V, Reaction And Revolution, p. 231

“The ultimate compound return rate is acutely sensitive to fat tails.”

William Poundstone (1955) American writer

Part Six, Blowing Up, Survival Motive, p. 297
Fortune's Formula (2005)

Tony Abbott photo

“I mean, the Nazis did terrible evil but they had a sufficient sense of shame to try to hide it”

Tony Abbott (1957) Australian politician

Tony Abbott's Nazi reference shows his penchant for alienating voters http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-nazi-reference-shows-his-penchant-for-alienating-voters-20150903-gjeccu.html#ixzz3liz6US8O, September 4, 2015.
2015

Related topics