E. L. Doctorow Quotes, Sayings, Remarks, Thoughts and Speeches
E. L. Doctorow Quotes and Sayings
- 1
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 2
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 3
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 4
I thought I would lose, so I didn't prepare a speech.
E. L. Doctorow | Refcard PDF ↑
- 5
I try to avoid experience if I can. Most experience is bad.
E. L. Doctorow | Refcard PDF ↑
- 6
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 7
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 8
Like art and politics, gangsterism is a very important avenue of assimilation into society.
E. L. Doctorow | Refcard PDF ↑
- 9
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 10
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 11
There is no longer any such thing as fiction or nonfiction; there's only narrative.
E. L. Doctorow | Refcard PDF ↑
- 12
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 13
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
- 14
Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.
E. L. Doctorow | Refcard PDF ↑
- 15
Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.
E. L. Doctorow | Refcard PDF ↑
- 16
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 | Refcard PDF ↑
