E. L. Doctorow Quotes
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.
Quotes to Explore
-
Yes, there is a terrible moral in 'Dorian Gray' - a moral which the prurient will not be able to find in it, but it will be revealed to all whose minds are healthy. Is this an artistic error? I fear it is. It is the only error in the book.
-
Anytime you hear different things - whether it's trade rumors or people saying you're not living up to your complete potential - you're obviously going to get ticked off about that.
-
I don't know how old I was when I started writing books. But, I was born in 1931, and I wrote my first book in 1961.
-
It takes me a long time writing books. It takes me about five years to write a book, and when I'm done, the last thing I want to do is to do it again.
-
In the 1970s in New York, everyone slept till noon. It was a grungy, dangerous, bankrupt city without normal services most of the time. The garbage piled up and stank during long strikes by the sanitation workers. A major blackout led to days and days of looting. The city seemed either frightening or risible to the rest of the nation.
-
I'm so sick of people misunderstanding Asians in America and what we're about.
-
Meditation isn't snake oil. For some people, meditation might be the most efficient way to reduce stress and cultivate mindfulness. But it isn't a panacea. If you don't meditate, there's no need to stress out about it.
-
What works for me is knowing the character in an emotional sense. I wish I was more logical but it doesn't work for me like that. I need quite a lot of time; it's why I always worry when I'm doing more than one thing at a time. I hope that some sort of magic will kick in.
-
But it is important to observe that when Europe or the United Nations impose sanctions that are supposed to be aimed against a certain regime, usually generally millions of people end up being directly punished.
-
I think that most people don't even know that I do other things. They think that Homer is all that I do.
-
I've been writing for a long time. I sat down to write my first novel in the middle of March of 1982.
-
I'm a psychologist. I was a psychology faculty member, and then I became an administrator of the department, then the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. At the time of the presidential search, I was the dean.
-
The storm came. Lives were washed away. Ancient pains resurfaced. Now it is time for a sea of change.
-
I felt like an outsider. The only time you get to really know guys is on the ice, and I couldn't be there.
-
I wanted to make good records. But my problem is I've got a low boredom threshold, so I wanted it to look and sound different with each album, which is really tantamount to suicide, cause people lose it, they lose it - they say: 'I like that, and that's not this.'
-
I think great artists have no time to waste with having disproportionate egos and irrational requests. They're too focused on their work to actually lose themselves in hysterical spirals where they become monsters or tyrants.
-
The hype man's job is to get everybody out of their seats and on the dance floor to have a good time.
-
Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.
-
I see the world become so uniform. Everybody has to be the same. I like people who are different.
-
I have not taken my good looks seriously from the beginning. When I would be teased by my friends about my looks, I would just make a self-deprecating remark and let it pass.
-
I'm still in the Dixie Chicks; we haven't broken up... I love the Dixie Chicks; it's the most fun I've ever had in my life. It was like winning the lottery.
-
History is at once freedom and necessity.
-
I'm a scientist, not a theologian. I don't know if there is a God or not. Religion requires certainty. Revere and respect Gaia. Have trust in Gaia. But not faith.
-
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.
