#ect

Our house is made of glass... and our lives are made of glass; and there is nothing we can do to protect ourselves. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#house #lives #made #nothing #our

I think all art comes out of conflict. When I write I am always looking for the dramatic kernel of an event, the junctures of people's lives when they go in one direction, not another. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#am #another #art #comes #conflict

If a book I've committed myself to review turns out to be 'disappointing' I make an effort to present it objectively to the reader, including a good number of excerpts from the text, so that the reader might form his or her own opinion independent of my own. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#committed #disappointing #effort #form #good

It seems disingenuous to ask a writer why she, or he, is writing about a violent subject when the world and history are filled with violence. ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#ask #disingenuous #filled #history #seems

We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen. ↗

— Barack Obama

#degrees #drive #eat #expect #going

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost. ↗

— Barack Obama

#common #else #exists #government #job

We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. ↗

— Barack Obama

#cannot #civilian #continue #force #got

We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old - and that's the criterion by which I'll be selecting my judges. ↗

— Barack Obama

#criterion #disabled #empathy #gay #got

Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction. ↗

— Barack Obama

#compass #deadly #direction #engaged #exercising

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions. ↗

— Barack Obama

#actions #around #best #best intentions #country