Joyce Carol Oates

"To be an American is to believe in transformation."

"Writing is thinking on paper."

"The act of writing is an act of optimism."

"Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-discipline."

"We must accept the pain as the price of consciousness."

"Literature is the most civilizing of the arts."

"The mind that opens to extreme possibilities never closes again."

"Imagination is a form of resistance to despair."

"A good writer is by definition a subversive element in society."

"To write is to risk exposing the innermost workings of one's mind."

"We are the sum total of our choices."

"Success is the person who continues to succeed even in the face of failure."

"The fear we carry becomes our greatest teacher."

"Time is the commodity we cannot buy, sell, or barter."

"Violence breeds more violence, but resistance to injustice is not violence."

"The truth is often more traumatic than the lie."

"Forgiveness is the closing of a cycle of pain."

"Every act of creation is an act of rebellion."

"The human heart is the most private of spaces."

"Faith is not the absence of doubt, but the willingness to continue."

"Nature is indifferent to human suffering, and this indifference is its truth."

"Power corrupts only those who believe they deserve it."

"The mind is a labyrinth we never fully navigate."

"Music is the language of the soul without words."

"Money is the embodiment of abstract possibility."

"Adventure begins where comfort ends."

"The pursuit of perfection is the enemy of the good."

"Kindness is often mistaken for weakness by those who have none."

"Death is the only absolute democracy."

"Patience is not passivity but the strength to wait."