816 Quotes by Joyce Carol Oates

Every scar in my face is worth it.

One of life's minor satisfactions is forgetting.

Writing is a consequence of having been 'haunted' by material. Why this is, no one knows.

Language is the instrument in all cases and can language be trusted?If it were not for language, could we lie?

I want to tell you that I love you I want to tell you that I love you I want to tell you that I love I love I love I love but you do not.

I don't think I'm morbid by nature. Serious writers have always written about serious subjects. Lighthearted material doesn't appeal to me, and I don't read it. I think I'm a realist, with a realistic sensibility of history and the tragedy of history.

Writing is a solitary occupation, and one of its hazards is loneliness. But an advantage of loneliness is privacy, autonomy and freedom.

the music was always in the background, like music at a church service; it was something to depend upon.

When my brother called to inform me, on the morning of May 22, 2003, that our mother Caroline Oates had died suddenly of a stroke, it was a shock from which, in a way, I have yet to recover.