Zero-Sum Quotes

“The mother’s milk can be suction-pumped out of her heavy aching breasts, stored in sanitized little baby-”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“Where there is light, there is color.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“fat bun of a breast bared, wrinkly nipple encrusted with dried milk (not semen) so that the man in the doorway is made to feel uneasy,”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“Because he’s defending his mother. Never position yourself between your husband and his mother.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“Because he’s defending his mother. Never position yourself”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“He has never been equal to being loved as he has been loved.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“The greatest among us may be buried in a pauper’s grave, like Mozart. There is no connection between genius and its reception and there should not be any expectation of a connection.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“is, the younger philosopher’s name precedes the elder. But all in the profession understand who is the protégée, who”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“Nobody cares if Einstein was a ‘good teacher’! That’s the least important thing about Einstein.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“A corollary: those in have no idea that they are in. For they have no idea of out. Only those out have an idea. For out sharpens the brain like a razor-sharp scimitar while in is a”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“How many places are set at the dining room table?—the child blinks back tears, desperate to see.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“Smaller than Evie, overall. Much smaller than Davy. So if you collided with her there could be no injury to yourself, you felt only a small thrill of pleasure at the pliant warmth of another’s being with no recourse but to give way to you without protest.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“A sweet sort of knowledge, to know that what others adamantly believe or wish to believe is mistaken and to have not the slightest impulse to correct them.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories

“If you would know fear, bring a baby into the world.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Zero-Sum: Stories