816 Quotes by Joyce Carol Oates

Art is about freedom of expression, and should not be molded to fit any propaganda or lofty ideal.

I probably spend 90% of my time revising what I've written.

Perhaps the inevitable tragedy of our complex civilization is that we must be specialists in our fields - and our fields have become increasingly difficult, so that communication is nearly impossible.

'The Accursed' is very much a novel about social injustice as the consequence of the terrible, tragic division of classes - the exploitation not only of poor and immigrant workers but of their young children in factories and mills - and as the consequence of race hatred in the aftermath of the Civil War and the freeing of the slaves.

Writing is the most solitary of arts.

Night comes to the desert all at once, as if someone turned off the light.

Self-criticism is an art not many are qualified to practice.

Princeton is quite integrated. Women are professors at Princeton. Women are students at Princeton. That began in the 1970s.

I never change, I simply become more myself.