Joyce Carol Oates Quotes

Ask yourself: given everything you have to do, is there a way that we can make this better?

I'm working to improve my methods, and every hour I save is an hour added to my life.

You cannot increase the quality or quantity of your achievement or performance except to the degree in which you increase your ability to use your time effectively.

Change the way you use your time, and you change your life.

GOOD MORNING," said the little prince. "Good Morning," said the salesclerk. This was a salesclerk who sold pills invented to quench thirst. Swallow one a week and you no longer feel any need to drink. "Why do you sell these pills?" "They save so much time," the salesclerk said. "Experts have calculated that you can save fifty-three minutes a week." "And what do you do with those fifty-three minutes?" "Whatever you like." "If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked," the little prince said to himself, "I'd walk very slowly toward a water fountain.

We need not worry if we can’t simultaneously do all of the things that the Lord has counseled us to do. He has spoken of a time and a season for all things. In response to our sincere prayers for guidance, He will direct us in what should be emphasized at each phase of our life. We can learn, grow, and become like Him one consistent step at a time.

Cecil's dispatch of business was extraordinary, his maxim being, "The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once."

The best teachers have shown me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly - we only think it does.

I have to confess that I'm in a constant state of evolution in terms of the way I feel about it. When I was doing early pieces, I wasn't exactly in love with the idea of building the stuff. I could do it because I had the skills, but I really did it because I couldn't find anyone else to build it for me.

I am not a slow writer, I am not a fast writer . . . I am a half-fast writer.

The best way to judge a life is to ask yourself, "Did I make the best use of the time I had?

Let us take one day only in hands at a time. Resolve to do good today and better tomorrow.

Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield. The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your most productive time.

If you don't keep and guard and mature your force, and above all, have time and quiet to perfect your work, you will be writing things not much better than you did five years ago.

For sure I think that at the end of the day if I got started a little sooner on stuff that was more written more permanent I would have just made a lot of mistakes earlier. I don't know if it would have led to earlier success but I think it would have led to thicker skin and it would have gotten the ball rolling.

It takes time to build a corporate work of art. It takes time to build a life. And it takes time to develop and grow. So give yourself, your enterprise, and your family the time they deserve and the time they require.

You can't work on a film without being changed in some way.

I'm learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life...procrastinating and rationalizing.

The Only way to do all the things you'd like to do is to read

I hate, loathe and despise schools.School is bad for you if you have any talent. You should be cultivating that talent in your own particular way.

I'm just going with the flow. I'm in the process, I'm on the path. I'm really working towards all of my goals and music is definitely on the way.

I continued for too long to do things that I already knew how to do, or to write stories that I was assigned instead of fighting for stories that I couldn't get, or doing ones that I thought were important on my own. The wasting of time is the thing I worry about the most. Because time is all there is.

One of the best uses of your time is to increase your competence in your key result areas.

The way we live our days, is the way we live our lives.

When I look at my career, the bulk of it has been television, and I love working in television. But there's a speed at which you do it. You're doing seven to ten pages a day on a series, and it's hard to feel like you're doing the detail-oriented work that I like to do.