Quotes from Joy Williams

But there was a rumble of panic underneath everything. And if it wasn't the fear of death, what was it? She felt it always, the terror, even in the brightest moments. What was it then, when she didn't even care?

The battle is always between the pleasure principle and the reality principle, is it not? Imagination is not what it's cracked up to be. Sam decided to forget the petty, bourgeois rite of eating food out of another's orifices for a while. He decided to just love Elizabeth instead.

The mega-technological fantasy of glorified and constant consumption in controlled and utopian worlds which prepare people psychologically for life in denatured artificial environments has never been more popular.

I think the world is dying because we were dead to its astonishments pretty much. It'll be around but it will become less and less until it's finally compatible with our feelings for it.

Shooting felt good. Joy consists in this, after all, the increase of one's power.

You can do anything you want in this world," J.C. said. "No, you can't," Emily said modestly. "Why, sure you can. And if you don't you'll never know the consequences. You won't be leading any kind of life at all.

with them to bouts with the adults. Children were like drunkards really, determined to talk at great length and with great incoherence. Pearl more or less understood them in that regard.

At dusk she switched to gin. Her marrying hour. The hour between the dog and the wolf. It sometimes seemed that dusk came to the island several times a day. Brought in by storms and fog. The change was in the fog. The Devil. Pearl's mother had once told her that she must never be embarrassed to tell another that she had seen the Devil.

She should send him a little note, something fun, not too didactic: A HEART ATTACK IS GOD'S REVENGE FOR EATING HIS LITTLE FRIENDS.

The blameless couple annoyed Alice, ignorant as they were of John Crimmins's whereabouts, unknowing of Tommy or his end, blithely incurious about the charred plot of land to the south. Should not sickening cruelty leave its impressions upon the surroundings? Should not a repulsive act taint the very air?

He said, "We are all asleep and dreaming, you know. If we could ever actually comprehend our true position, we would not be able to bear it, we would have to find a way out." The girl nodded. She was embarrassed.

Mr. and Mrs. Muirhead fought continuously and as bitterly as vipers. Their arguments were baroque, stately and, although frequently extraordinary, never enlightening.

I believe that God is (and must be) a transcendent presence in any worthy work of art.

Your child dreads to become alive and real because he fears that in doing so, the risk of annihilation is immediately potentiated.

It takes years to learn to be still.

No one who has private thoughts going on in his own head is quite sure of their not being overheard. Any child knows that.

The bowlers, men and women both, were of that pastime's typical bent—hefty, of a tribal disposition and with themselves well pleased.

Katherine feels that she must have learned something about marriage from being married before that is now working to her benefit. However, she doesn't know quite what it is, or how, actually, it works.

Were they really selling postcards of the mummies in that place," Dan asked. "Yes sweetie pie, there were," Mr. Muirhead said. "In this world there is a postcard of everything. That's the kind of world this is.

The bowlers, men and women both, were of that pastime's typical bent—hefty, of a tribal disposition and with themselves well pleased. After they released the ball they held the afterward of their poses for a vanity of time.

Behold, I tell you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye… 1 CORINTHIANS 15:51–52

One of the greatest secrets of life is learning to live without being happy.

And if, with some effort, they could recall the affairs that had been consummated, the roads taken, the languages mastered, the queer meals eaten in foreign lands, of what lasting consequence was that? This had been the destination all the while. Having been a good householder, having run a tight ship, having fought the good fight, whatever, it mattered not at all.

That guy had a job before you environmentalists took it away. Now he has nothing to do but ride his bike, his only treasure, then go home at night to terrorize his children and beat his wife. Spousal abuse is directly linked to environmental regulation. It can be stamped out only by stamping out nature—not human nature, the other one. That alone will provide jobs and stop the breakdown of the American family.