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

Our house is made of glass... and our lives are made of glass; and there...

Our house is made of glass... and our lives are made of glass; and there...

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...

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.

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

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

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

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

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...

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 worst cynicism: a belief in luck.

The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.

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...

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

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

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...

If food is poetry, is not poetry also food?

If food is poetry, is not poetry also food?

Boxing is about being hit rather more than it is about hitting, just as it...

Boxing is about being hit rather more than it is about hitting, just as it...

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.

In love there are two things; bodies and words

In love there are two things; bodies and words

Boxing has become America's tragic theater.

Boxing has become America's tragic theater.

It is not her body that he wants but it is only through her body...

It is not her body that he wants but it is only through her body...

In love there are two things - bodies and words.

In love there are two things - bodies and words.

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...