Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
Keeing busy" is the remedy for all the ills in America. It's also the means by which the creative impulse is destroyed.
Interpretation
Staying busy can distract from deeper issues but can also stifle creativity.
In this quote, Joyce Carol Oates suggests that while being busy is often seen as a solution to various problems in society, it may simultaneously hinder our creative potential. The relentless pursuit of busyness can lead individuals to ignore important aspects of their lives, reducing the opportunity for reflection and innovative thought.
In practice
In a discussion on work-life balance, someone might say this quote to highlight the downside of chronic busyness.
Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.
I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.
My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
. . . there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.
It is easy enough to be virtuous When nothing tempts you to stray; When without or within No voice of sin Is luring your soul away. But it is only a negative virtue until it is tried by fire. For the soul that is worth the treasures of the earth is the soul that resists desire.
β¦but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.
Every failure, every adversity, every heartache may be a blessing in disguise providing it softens the animal portion of our nature.
The amount of knowledge which we can justify from evidence directly available to us can never be large. The overwhelming proportion of our factual beliefs continue therefore to be held at second hand through trusting others, and in the great majority of cases our trust is placed in the authority of comparatively few people of widely acknowledged standing.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are not assertions. These are facts, corroborated by many sources, some of them sources of the intelligence services of other countries.
A woman is only as good as the peace and light she radiates.
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