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Joyce Carol Oates Quotes

At all crucial moments in our lives we want to speak without knowing what to say Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

In ‘We Were the Mulvaneys,’ animals are almost as important as people. I wanted to show the tenderness in our relationships with cats, dogs, and horses. Especially cats Picture Quote #1

I think all art comes out of conflict. When I write I am always looking for the dramatic kernel of an event, the junctures of people’s lives when they go in one direction, not another Picture Quote #1

Art is about freedom of expression, and should not be molded to fit any propaganda or lofty ideal Picture Quote #1

I don’t think that any ‘ism’ is higher than literature or art. So I’m a formalist. I greatly honor and respect the form of a work Picture Quote #1

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Obviously, there is pleasure in the execution of any sort of art, and using language, as Nabokov felt also, is an exquisite process Picture Quote #1

I learned long ago that being Lewis Carroll was infinitely more exciting than being Alice Picture Quote #1

My theory is that literature is essential to society in the way that dreams are essential to our lives. We can’t live without dreaming - as we can’t live without sleep. We are ‘conscious’ beings for only a limited period of time, then we sink back into sleep - the ‘unconscious.’ It is nourishing, in ways we can’t fully understand Picture Quote #1

Detroit, my ‘great’ subject, made me the person I am, consequently the writer I am - for better or worse Picture Quote #1

Obviously the imagination is fueled by emotions beyond the control of the conscious mind Picture Quote #1

Running! If there’s any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can’t think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms Picture Quote #1

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I remember once asking Grandma about a book she was reading, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and how she answered me: this was the first conversation of my life that concerned a book, and ‘the life of the mind’ - and now, such subjects have become my life Picture Quote #1

It’s always a challenge to discover the most effective first sentence, and the most effective final sentence, in a chapter for instance, and in the book as a whole Picture Quote #1

I rarely write in my own voice except in book reviews and memoirs; otherwise, I am writing in mediated voices, modulated in terms of the characters whom the voices express Picture Quote #1

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 are really being very charitable, because they’re not going to give them billions of dollars in campaign funds Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

The cleaning is something I use as a reward if I get some work done. I go into a very happy state of mind when I’m vacuuming Picture Quote #1

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The body can’t distinguish between cleansing and punishing for the body is ignorant, and mute besides Picture Quote #1

I work very slowly. It’s like building a ladder, where you’re building your own ladder rung by rung, and you’re climbing the ladder. It’s not the best way to build a ladder, but I don’t know any other way Picture Quote #1

I come from people who did not go to college. They didn’t even finish high school. People who one might call ordinary Americans who are very hard-working Picture Quote #1

When I was very little, four or five, I did comic strip drawings, so my first novel had no words. I couldn’t write and thought adult handwriting was a mysterious scribble. When I was 14, my grandmother gave me a typewriter and I started writing in a different way Picture Quote #1

Life and people are complex. A writer as an artist doesn’t have the personality of a politician. We don’t see the world that simply Picture Quote #1

I’m drawn to failure. I feel like I’m contending with it constantly in my own life Picture Quote #1

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You cultivate the subconscious by meditation, by sitting in silence and by not trying to control your thoughts. Then go someplace where you haven’t been before, or go for a walk, a run, and look for signs of grace-an epiphany, something that comes to you Picture Quote #1

Novels begin, not on the page, but in meditation and day-dreaming - In thinking, not writing Picture Quote #1

Her problem wasn’t she was a dumb blonde, it was she wasn’t a blonde and she wasn’t dumb Picture Quote #1

The folly of war is that it can have no natural end except in the extinction an entire people Picture Quote #1

I should say, one of the things about being a widow or a widower, you really, really need a sense of humor, because everything’s going to fall apart Picture Quote #1

I’m drawn to failure. I feel that I’m contending with it constantly in my own life Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

At all crucial moments in our lives we want to speak without knowing what to say (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) 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. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) In ‘We Were the Mulvaneys,’ animals are almost as important as people. I wanted to show the tenderness in our relationships with cats, dogs, and horses. Especially cats. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I think all art comes out of conflict. When I write I am always looking for the dramatic kernel of an event, the junctures of people’s lives when they go in one direction, not another. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) Art is about freedom of expression, and should not be molded to fit any propaganda or lofty ideal (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I don’t think that any ‘ism’ is higher than literature or art. So I’m a formalist. I greatly honor and respect the form of a work. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) Obviously, there is pleasure in the execution of any sort of art, and using language, as Nabokov felt also, is an exquisite process. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I learned long ago that being Lewis Carroll was infinitely more exciting than being Alice (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) My theory is that literature is essential to society in the way that dreams are essential to our lives. We can’t live without dreaming - as we can’t live without sleep. We are ‘conscious’ beings for only a limited period of time, then we sink back into sleep - the ‘unconscious.’ It is nourishing, in ways we can’t fully understand. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) Detroit, my ‘great’ subject, made me the person I am, consequently the writer I am - for better or worse. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) Obviously the imagination is fueled by emotions beyond the control of the conscious mind (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) Running! If there’s any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can’t think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I remember once asking Grandma about a book she was reading, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and how she answered me: this was the first conversation of my life that concerned a book, and ‘the life of the mind’ - and now, such subjects have become my life. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) It’s always a challenge to discover the most effective first sentence, and the most effective final sentence, in a chapter for instance, and in the book as a whole. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I rarely write in my own voice except in book reviews and memoirs; otherwise, I am writing in mediated voices, modulated in terms of the characters whom the voices express. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) 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 are really being very charitable, because they’re not going to give them billions of dollars in campaign funds. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) 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. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) The cleaning is something I use as a reward if I get some work done. I go into a very happy state of mind when I’m vacuuming. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) The body can’t distinguish between cleansing and punishing for the body is ignorant, and mute besides. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I work very slowly. It’s like building a ladder, where you’re building your own ladder rung by rung, and you’re climbing the ladder. It’s not the best way to build a ladder, but I don’t know any other way. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I come from people who did not go to college. They didn’t even finish high school. People who one might call ordinary Americans who are very hard-working. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) When I was very little, four or five, I did comic strip drawings, so my first novel had no words. I couldn’t write and thought adult handwriting was a mysterious scribble. When I was 14, my grandmother gave me a typewriter and I started writing in a different way. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) Life and people are complex. A writer as an artist doesn’t have the personality of a politician. We don’t see the world that simply. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I’m drawn to failure. I feel like I’m contending with it constantly in my own life. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) You cultivate the subconscious by meditation, by sitting in silence and by not trying to control your thoughts. Then go someplace where you haven’t been before, or go for a walk, a run, and look for signs of grace-an epiphany, something that comes to you. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) Novels begin, not on the page, but in meditation and day-dreaming - In thinking, not writing (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) Her problem wasn’t she was a dumb blonde, it was she wasn’t a blonde and she wasn’t dumb. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) The folly of war is that it can have no natural end except in the extinction an entire people (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I should say, one of the things about being a widow or a widower, you really, really need a sense of humor, because everything’s going to fall apart. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes) I’m drawn to failure. I feel that I’m contending with it constantly in my own life. (Joyce Carol Oates Quotes)

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