"Writing is a consequence of having been 'haunted' by material. Why this is, no one knows."  — Joyce Carol Oates

 "Can a selfish egocentric jealous and unimaginative female write a damn thing worthwhile?...  I am horribly limited." -- Sylvia Palth.

"The writer who loses his self-doubt, who gives way as he grows old to a sudden euphoria, to prolixity, should stop writing immediately: the time has come for him to lay aside his pen."  -- Colette.

"Fiction that adds up, that suggests a "logical consistency," or an explanation of some kind, is surely second-rate fiction; for the truth of life is its mystery. "  — Joyce Carol Oates

" Unfinished business always comes back to haunt you, and a man who swears he'll love you forever isn't finished with you until he's done." — Alice Hoffman.

"I never change, I simply become more myself."
— Joyce Carol Oates