Not even the most devastating truth can be told; it must be evoked. Joyce Carol Oates More Quotes by Joyce Carol Oates More Quotes From Joyce Carol Oates For madness must be punished in a world in which mere sanity is prized. The revenge of the ordinary upon the gifted. Joyce Carol Oates revengeordinaryworld If you explore beneath shyness or party chit-chat, you can sometimes turn a dull exchange into an intriguing one. I've found this to be particularly true in the case of professors or intellectuals, who are full of fascinating information, but need encouragement before they'll divulge it. Joyce Carol Oates womenpartyencouragement Writing is a solitary occupation, and one of its hazards is loneliness. But an advantage of loneliness is privacy, autonomy and freedom. Joyce Carol Oates hazardslonelinesswriting Nothing is accidental in the universe - this is one of my Laws of Physics - except the entire universe itself, which is Pure Accident, pure divinity. Joyce Carol Oates divinitylawscience I would suggest the widow do things the husband used to do, so he seems to be there with you. You will feel like just going to bed. It's so wonderful, going to bed. Joyce Carol Oates widowsbedhusband The first sentence cant be written until the final sentence is written. Joyce Carol Oates finalswritingfirsts One of life's minor satisfactions is forgetting. Joyce Carol Oates minorssatisfactionforget Sometimes I read reviews, and without exception I will read critical essays that are sent to me. The critical essays are interesting on their own terms. Joyce Carol Oates reviewssometimesinteresting Writing! The activity for which the only adequate bribe is the possibility of suicide, one day. Joyce Carol Oates one-daysuicidewriting There is an hour, a minute - you will remember it forever - when you know instinctively on the basis of the most inconsequential evidence, that something is wrong. You don't know - can't know - that it is the first of a series of "wrongful" events that will culminate in the utter devastation of your life as you have known it. Joyce Carol Oates bereavementgriefforever I learned you don't discover the evidence of any cause in its result. Joyce Carol Oates evidenceresultscauses These are the moments for which we live. Joyce Carol Oates moments The worst cynicism: a belief in luck. Joyce Carol Oates luckbeliefwork My life is a very interior and solitary life. I tend not to care that much about external things. Joyce Carol Oates solitary-lifecarelife-is For memory is a moral action, a choice. You can choose to remember. You can choose not. Joyce Carol Oates remembers-youremember-youmemories Each genre exerts a considerable spell, as a kind of "form" to be filled, as a Shakespearean sonnet is filled. Joyce Carol Oates genreformkind It is only through disruptions and confusion that we grow, jarred out of ourselves by the collision of someone else's private world with our own. Joyce Carol Oates confusionmotivationalinspirational A mouth of no distinction but well practiced, before I entered my teens, in irony. For what is irony but the repository of hurt? And what is hurt but the repository of hope? Joyce Carol Oates teenshurtmouths My parents inspired me by their example. They both grew up in the Depression, and both of them had to quit school when they were quite young to work, because there actually was no choice. So they've always impressed me with their resilience, their good spirits, their courage. I just remember them carrying on and just doing their lives. They really made a strong impression on me. Joyce Carol Oates parentstrongschool A man will reveal his true self, or so it seems, on the tennis court. Joyce Carol Oates tennisselfmen
