816 Quotes by Joyce Carol Oates

When people say there is too much violence in my books, what they are saying is there is too much reality in life.

"Because there has been no one to stop me" has been one of the principles of my life.

The best revenge is living well without you.

We inhabit ourselves without valuing ourselves, unable to see that here, now, this very moment is sacred; but once it’s gone – its value is incontestable.

Where there must be a choice, a girl will choose Daddy. Even if you are Mommy, you concede that this must be so: you remember when you were a girl, too.

Boxing is about being hit rather more than it is about hitting, just as it is about feeling pain, if not devastating psychological paralysis, more than it is about winning.

Our house is made of glass... and our lives are made of glass; and there is nothing we can do to protect ourselves.

Before you can write a novel you have to have a number of ideas that come together. One idea is not enough.

On the elusive gift of blending austerity of craft with elasticity of allure.