Joyce Carol Oates Quotes & Sayings (Page 12)

“Like most people, I can be very easily hurt.”

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

“It seems disingenuous to ask a writer why she, or he, is writing about a violent subject when the world and history are filled with violence.”

“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.”

“I have read on a Kindle. But the Kindle we had only worked for about eight months then it stopped working. You don't have to get books repaired.”

“If I'm writing, I'll say something metaphorical or approximate, whereas scientists are very precise.”

“Detroit, my 'great' subject, made me the person I am, consequently the writer I am - for better or worse.”

“I am concerned with only one thing, the moral and social conditions of my generation.”

“People might be surprised to know how much I throw away. For every page I publish, I throw 10 pages away.”

“To be knocked out doesn't mean what it seems. A boxer does not have to get up.”