Where we come from in America no longer signifies. It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we are.

Quote by Joyce Carol Oates

Topics: Joyce Carol Oates Quotes

The great menace to the life of an industry is industrial self-complacency.

The great menace to the life of an industry is industrial self-complacency.

In love there are two things -- bodies and words.

In love there are two things -- bodies and words.

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

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

Nothing is accidental in the universe - this is one of my Laws of Physics...

Nothing is accidental in the universe - this is one of my Laws of Physics...

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

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

The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as...

The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as...

What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.

What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.

Study until twenty five, investigate until forty, profession until sixty, at which age I would...

Study until twenty five, investigate until forty, profession until sixty, at which age I would...

When poets write about food it is usually celebratory. Food as the thing-in-itself, but also...

When poets write about food it is usually celebratory. Food as the thing-in-itself, but also...

Love commingled with hate is more powerful than love. Or hate.

Love commingled with hate is more powerful than love. Or hate.

In love there are two things; bodies and words

In love there are two things; bodies and words

The third man in the ring makes boxing possible.

The third man in the ring makes boxing possible.

Our enemy is by tradition our savior, in preventing us from superficiality.

Our enemy is by tradition our savior, in preventing us from superficiality.

We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.

We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.

One man's insanity is another man's genius; someday the world will recognize the genius in...

One man's insanity is another man's genius; someday the world will recognize the genius in...

Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for...

Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for...

The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as...

The television screen, so unlike the movie screen, sharply reduced human beings, revealed them as...

Movie music is noise... even more painful than my sciatica.

Movie music is noise... even more painful than my sciatica.

Drama is life with the dull bits left out.

Drama is life with the dull bits left out.

He's too nervous to kill himself. He wears his seat belt in a drive-in movie.

He's too nervous to kill himself. He wears his seat belt in a drive-in movie.