Carol Oates > Quotes

“Deep down under where his heart resided, strangled up in thorny vines of guilt, anger, fear and longing, there lay something deeper in him, something that he couldn’t see but she could.”
― Carol Oates, Ember

“A broken heart is something even I can’t protect you from. I’ve been alone for so long, and believe me, all that does is provide a false sense of security. Being alone doesn’t erase the deep yearning that exists in all of us. We are not solitary creatures. You have to love and open your heart. If not, what is it we are trying to save? When it swallows you whole, remember it means you’ve lived.”
― Carol Oates, Iridescent

“Love is just like the flower; it has hidden depths that we rarely ever explore. Beneath the surface lies a network of roots. You can admire the flower for what it is, or you can dig deeper. The more you dig, the more you will find. The real reasons we love a person sometimes exist in the darkest and deepest part of us, the part that knows no logic…or rationale.”
― Carol Oates, Iridescent

“Sebastian tapped his index finger on the polished wood thoughtfully. Yes, it was a universal truth: some things once broken were broken forever—like trust. It might be patched up and smoothed over, but it would always be the thing that had once been shattered.”
― Carol Oates, Iridescent

“When we lay together, she showed me her soul, and I showed her mine, and they were the same. As you can imagine, mine was battered and bruised, tarnished like ancient metal. She scrubbed it clean. I cannot deny my own soul any more than I can deny she held it in her hands for a time.”
― Carol Oates, Something Wicked

“Is this really about keeping me safe or about you not wanting to share your sandbox with the others?”
― Carol Oates, Ember

“You have lived all these years and you're still a grumpy teenage boy. That must take effort.”
― Carol Oates, Ember

“She looked like a grown-up, a calm, controlled grown-up, and she was glad for that one mercy. No one would be able to judge from her exterior that she was falling apart on the inside or that she didn't feel mature at all.”
― Carol Oates, Ember

“The temptation to take the next step hung in the air around them...it was the apple: take one bite, and there was no going back.”
― Carol Oates, Ember

“The demon blood inside me burned my soul to ashes long ago.
I am a monster who once dreamed he was a man. Never mistake
me again.”
― Carol Oates, Something Wicked

“I think you've been sleeping on the job; the city isn't exactly paradise," she said caustically. "Every time you clap your hands, another person becoms a statistic.”
― Carol Oates, Ember

“Help me,” I sobbed. “I beg you, help me.” My eyes burned, but
no tears came. I had lost the basic human ability to weep. Human…I
am no longer human. “Destroy me. Take pity and send me on my way.”
― Carol Oates, Something Wicked

“There is an hour when you realize: Here is what you have been given. More than this, you won't receive. And what this is, what your life has come to, will be taken from you. In time”
― Carol Oates

“Art serves a purpose. It expands our horizons, frees our minds, and opens us up to new experiences. It opens the imagination. All these great discoveries of our time — without the desire to reach beyond our boundaries, we would be forever stagnant. The folly is in closing one’s eyes and not recognizing it.”
― Carol Oates, Something Wicked

“The city reeked of death, and the savages that resided within its imposing starkness existed in fear of their lives. They had been shocked by the recent bloody Whitechapel murders, as if starvation, disease, moral degradation, and perpetual smog drowning all color in gray wasn’t enough to bring home the pathetic reality of their miserable existence. The police were no nearer to capturing the monster that lurked in the crevices, and London seemed stiller in the dark, the streets devoid of hope.”
― Carol Oates, Something Wicked