---
title: "4 Fascinating Quotes By Joyce Carol Oates"
description: "4 Fascinating quotes by Joyce Carol Oates. Plus more from Joyce Carol Oates and more Fascinating sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/joyce-carol-oates-344_cases_if-you-explore-beneath-shyness-or-party_160235.png"
---

> [If you explore beneath shyness or party chit-chat, you can sometimes turn a dull exchange into an intriguing one. I've found this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/if-you-explore-beneath-shyness-or-party-chit-chat-you-can-sometimes/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ff/joyce-carol-oates-344_cases_if-you-explore-beneath-shyness-or-party_160235.png)

> [Insomniac is an impassioned work-an inspired amalgam of academic and first-hand research, memoir, analysis, and the kind of obsessive brooding we associate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/insomniac-is-an-impassioned-work-an-inspired-amalgam-of-academic-and/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/joyce-carol-oates-344_academic_insomniac-is-an-impassioned-work-an-insp_301211.jpg)

> [Yes, I've listened to just a few audiobooks - but hope to listen to more. I've wanted to investigate how my own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/yes-i-ve-listened-to-just-a-few-audiobooks-but-hope-to-listen-to-more/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4ba/joyce-carol-oates-344_book_yes-i-ve-listened-to-just-a-few-audioboo_2304809.png)

> [How fascinating to a child are words: the shapes, sounds, textures and mysterious meanings of words; the way words link together into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/how-fascinating-to-a-child-are-words-the-shapes-sounds-textures-and/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/acb/joyce-carol-oates-344_children_how-fascinating-to-a-child-are-words-the_3117533.png)

## Other authors on Fascinating

## More by Joyce Carol Oates

> [“A woman who has lost her husband is invalid, thus an invalid. In”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/a-woman-who-has-lost-her-husband-is-invalid-thus-an-invalid-in/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think of what it might be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/running-if-there-s-any-activity-happier-more-exhilarating-more/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [You need so much energy and encouragement to write that if someone says something negative, some of that energy goes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/you-need-so-much-energy-and-encouragement-to-write-that-if-someone/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [I learned long ago that being Lewis Carroll was infinitely more exciting than being Alice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/i-learned-long-ago-that-being-lewis-carroll-was-infinitely-more/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [Paradox: how do we know what we have failed to see because we have no language to express it, thus we cannot know that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/paradox-how-do-we-know-what-we-have-failed-to-see-because-we-have-no/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [At all crucial moments in our lives we want to speak without knowing what to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/at-all-crucial-moments-in-our-lives-we-want-to-speak-without-knowing/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [A writer’s life is in his work, and that is the place to find him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/a-writer-s-life-is-in-his-work-and-that-is-the-place-to-find-him/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [The challenge is to resist circumstances. Any idiot can be happy in a happy place, but moral courage is required to be happy in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/the-challenge-is-to-resist-circumstances-any-idiot-can-be-happy-in-a/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [The first sentence cant be written until the final sentence is written.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/the-first-sentence-cant-be-written-until-the-final-sentence-is-written/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [“Did you know, Marianne: how by breaking the code that day, you broke it forever? For us all?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/did-you-know-marianne-how-by-breaking-the-code-that-day-you-broke-it/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> ['The Accursed' is very much a novel about social injustice as the consequence of the terrible, tragic division of classes - the exploitation not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/the-accursed-is-very-much-a-novel-about-social-injustice-as-the/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [Keep a light, hopeful heart. But expect the worst.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/keep-a-light-hopeful-heart-but-expect-the-worst/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo - that evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive; that it has the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/and-this-is-the-forbidden-truth-the-unspeakable-taboo-that-evil-is/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [I don't think that writer's block exists really. I think that when you're trying to do something prematurely, it just won't come. Certain subjects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/i-don-t-think-that-writer-s-block-exists-really-i-think-that-when-you/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

> [... such speculation is like staring into the hot white sun. you know the sun is there but you can't see a thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/such-speculation-is-like-staring-into-the-hot-white-sun-you-know-the/)

[Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/)

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