--- title: "3 Girlhood Quotes By Joyce Carol Oates" description: "3 Girlhood quotes by Joyce Carol Oates. Plus more from Joyce Carol Oates and more Girlhood sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c9/joyce-carol-oates-344_adults_i-do-what-i-want-to-do-it-was-a-brash-st_182120.png" --- > [I do what I want to do. It was a brash statement of(her)girlhood. Now she was an adult, the boast seemed quaint.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/i-do-what-i-want-to-do-it-was-a-brash-statement-of-her-girlhood-now/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c9/joyce-carol-oates-344_adults_i-do-what-i-want-to-do-it-was-a-brash-st_182120.png) > ['We Were the Mulvaneys' is perhaps the novel closest to my heart. I think of it as a valentine to a passing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/we-were-the-mulvaneys-is-perhaps-the-novel-closest-to-my-heart-i/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d0/joyce-carol-oates-344_american-life_we-were-the-mulvaneys-is-perhaps-the-nov_2362681.png) > [I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/i-m-drawn-to-write-about-upstate-new-york-in-the-way-in-which-a/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/128/joyce-carol-oates-344_american-life_i-m-drawn-to-write-about-upstate-new-yor_2824729.jpg) ## 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/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girlhood/joyce-carol-oates/#itemlist", "name": "3 Girlhood Quotes By Joyce Carol Oates", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I do what I want to do. It was a brash statement of(her)girlhood. Now she was an adult, the boast seemed quaint. For rarely do you know what you want. Even after you've done it you can't say clearly if that was what you'd wanted or just something that happened to you, like weather.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joyce Carol Oates" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/i-do-what-i-want-to-do-it-was-a-brash-statement-of-her-girlhood-now/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c9/joyce-carol-oates-344_adults_i-do-what-i-want-to-do-it-was-a-brash-st_182120.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c9/joyce-carol-oates-344_adults_i-do-what-i-want-to-do-it-was-a-brash-st_182120.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c9/joyce-carol-oates-344_adults_i-do-what-i-want-to-do-it-was-a-brash-st_182120.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I do what I want to do. It was a brash statement of(her)girlhood. Now she was an adult, the boast seemed…” — Joyce Carol Oates", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "'We Were the Mulvaneys' is perhaps the novel closest to my heart. I think of it as a valentine to a passing way of American life, and to my own particular child - and girlhood in upstate New York. Everyone in the novel is enormously close to me, including Marianne's cat, Muffin, who was in fact my own cat.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joyce Carol Oates" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/we-were-the-mulvaneys-is-perhaps-the-novel-closest-to-my-heart-i/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d0/joyce-carol-oates-344_american-life_we-were-the-mulvaneys-is-perhaps-the-nov_2362681.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d0/joyce-carol-oates-344_american-life_we-were-the-mulvaneys-is-perhaps-the-nov_2362681.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5d0/joyce-carol-oates-344_american-life_we-were-the-mulvaneys-is-perhaps-the-nov_2362681.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“'We Were the Mulvaneys' is perhaps the novel closest to my heart. I think of it as a valentine to a passing…” — Joyce Carol Oates", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joyce Carol Oates" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/i-m-drawn-to-write-about-upstate-new-york-in-the-way-in-which-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/128/joyce-carol-oates-344_american-life_i-m-drawn-to-write-about-upstate-new-yor_2824729.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/128/joyce-carol-oates-344_american-life_i-m-drawn-to-write-about-upstate-new-yor_2824729.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/128/joyce-carol-oates-344_american-life_i-m-drawn-to-write-about-upstate-new-yor_2824729.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My…” — Joyce Carol Oates", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girlhood/joyce-carol-oates/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girlhood/joyce-carol-oates/", "name": "Girlhood Quotes by Joyce Carol Oates", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girlhood/joyce-carol-oates/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c9/joyce-carol-oates-344_adults_i-do-what-i-want-to-do-it-was-a-brash-st_182120.png" }, "description": "3 Girlhood quotes by Joyce Carol Oates. Plus more from Joyce Carol Oates and more Girlhood sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girlhood/joyce-carol-oates/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girlhood/joyce-carol-oates/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Girlhood", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girlhood/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Joyce Carol Oates", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/girlhood/joyce-carol-oates/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```