Beasts Quotes

“I love insult, it's always honest.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

“This was before voice mail, recorded phone messages you can't escape. Life was easier then. You just didn't pick up the phone.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

“The distinction between "assistant" and intern" is a simple one: assistants are paid, interns are not.

But of course interns are paid, in experience.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

“We are beasts and this is our consolation.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

“Lawrence is the supreme poet of Eros. No recriminations, no reproaches, no guilt, no 'morality'. For what's 'morality' but a leash around the neck? A noose? What's 'morality' but what other people want you to do, for their own, selfish, unstated purposes?”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

“I wrote for hours in my journal, late at night. And I hated everything I wrote.
I hated "confessing" — I hated exposing myself in this way. And I knew myself inadequate. My thin body set beside Dominique's voluptuous body. My quiet manner set beside Marisa's exhibitionism. Even more, I didn't want to betray the secrets of others. I respected my parents, I guess I felt sorry for them even if, as I thought, I no longer loved them. It would be cruel to expose them to strangers . . . And do I know them? How do I know them, except as their daughter born when they were middle-aged?”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

“Only care for me. If you can't love me.
Only don't ignore me...”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

“Dominique (who, like other Catamount girls, had a cache of pills for every occasion) offered me a bennie- Benzedrine?- to elevate my spirits. Adamantly I told her, No thanks! I wanted to face what's called reality with my eyes open.

I've made that a principle for my life. Sometimes I wonder if this has been a wise decision.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts

“Dorcas wasn't a fast walker. It was difficult for me to keep behind her. I tried to let others, joggers, and bicyclists, come between us. I followed her past a field where girls were playing soccer, and into the woods bordering Catamount Creek. The smell of pine needles underfoot was sharp, pungent. I seemed to know that I would always associate that smell with this afternoon, and with Dorcas.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Beasts