E. L. Doctorow Quotes


"Like art and politics, gangsterism is a very important avenue of assimilation into society."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Art, Society, Politics)

"In the twentieth century one of the most personal relationships to have developed is that of the person and the state. It's become a fact of life that governments have become very intimate with people, most always to their detriment."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Life, People, Fact, Relationships, State)

"I thought I would lose, so I didn't prepare a speech."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Thought, Speech)

"I can walk into a bookstore and hand over my credit card and they don't know who the hell I am. Maybe that says something about bookstore clerks."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Credit, Hell)

"History is the present. That's why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: History, People, End, Myth, Present)

"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Being, Fact, Feeling, Writing)

"It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Car, Driving, Night)

"Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: People, Planning, Talking, Writing)

"The writer isn't made in a vacuum. Writers are witnesses. The reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Reason, Writer, Writers)

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Writing)

"Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Exploration, Nothing, Writing)

"We're always attracted to the edges of what we are, out by the edges where it's a little raw and nervy."
- E. L. Doctorow
"There is no longer any such thing as fiction or nonfiction; there's only narrative."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Fiction)

"Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Driving, Night, Writing)

"Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake."
- E. L. Doctorow
(Related: Time, People, Writers)