« All Them Quotes · Joyce Carol Oates's Page
Them Quotes by 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 just…
- Who is to blame for this most recent of sports disgraces in America? The culture that flings young athletes like Tyson up out of obscurity,…
- I have beliefs, of course, like everyone-but I don't always believe in them.
- The innocence of such children doesn't answer our deepest questions about this vale of tears to which we are condemned, but it helps to dispel…
- The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as small, trivial, flat, in two banal dimensions, drained of color.…
- Except that awards are competitive, which is a negative thing, they are wonderful for singling out deserving individuals and bringing their work to the attention…
- For some reason, voters can be brainwashed, and they vote sometimes against their own best interests, let alone voting against the interests of people who…
- I am not conscious of working especially hard, or of 'working' at all. Writing and teaching have always been, for me, so richly rewarding that…
- I haven't the faintest idea what my royalties are. I haven't the faintest idea how many copies of books sold, or how many books that…
- I write in longhand and assemble lots of notes, and then I try to collate them into a coherent chronology. It's like groping along in…
- My students often say, 'My roommate read this story and really liked it,' and it's hard to convince them that there are things wrong with…
- People have libraries at home, they have bookshelves, they have CDs. And they sort of try, people try to bring great artists into their lives,…
- People who are disenfranchised politically and people who are poor often don't vote. They often don't elect politicians, so the politicians who are supporting them…
- The books I read I do enjoy, very much; otherwise I wouldn't read them. Most of them are for review, for the New York Review…
- To be true to life, a novel must have an ending that is inevitable given the specific personalities of the characters involved. The novelist must…
- To write a novel is to embark on a quest that is very romantic. People have visions, and the next step is to execute them.…
- Her visits to her former hometown were infrequent and often painful. Pilgrimages fueled by the tepid oxygen of family duty, unease, guilt. The more Esther…
- Adriana loved even the rank animal smell of the man's body, her sweat-slicked breasts and belly flattened beneath him, and her arms and legs clutching…
- It makes me angry sometimes, it's a visceral thing--how you come to despise your own words in your ears not because they aren't genuine, but…
- The act of sending a letter is an act of generosity, even if, in retrospect, it might seem reckless. Why regret one's generosity? Why regret…
- I suggest to my students that they write under a pseudonym for a week. That allows young men to write as women, and women as…
- For obviously the advantage for most writers is that no one sees them. The writer is invisible, which confers power.
More Them Quotes
- Poets are the only people to whom love is not only a crucial, but an indispensable experience, which entitles them to mistake… — Hannah Arendt
- A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and… — Pietro Aretino
- If you want to annoy your neighbors, tell the truth about them. — Pietro Aretino
- Flattery and deceit are the darlings of great men, and so with these men spread the butter on thick, if you want… — Pietro Aretino
- As we all know, many people remain buried under tons of rubble and debris, waiting to be rescued. When we think of… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those… — Aristotle
- In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of… — Aristotle
- Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes… — Aristotle
- Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms. — Aristotle
- Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. — Aristotle
- Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit. — Aristotle
- Stories surge up out of nowhere, and if they feel compelling, you follow them. You let them unfold inside you and see… — Paul Auster