E. L. Doctorow Quotes

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

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Quotes to Explore

• Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.

  

  H. L. Mencken
  • May
  • Faith
  • Belief

• Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

  

  Otto von Bismarck
  • War
  • Rules
  • Politeness

• On stage, I like to dress up a bit. I'm not scared to be like a character up there.

  

  Flume
  • Up
  • Character
  • Stage

• I think what 'The Monster' means to me is I find it really hard - like a lot of other people in the world - to really be OK in my own skin. It was a message to myself saying, 'It's OK that you're not perfect.' I'm gonna learn to love myself and accept myself, even though I'm a little crazy.

  

  Bebe Rexha
  • People
  • World
  • Think

• When civilization takes a nose dive, how can you look away? You've got to be there. You've got to be at the bottom of the swimming pool taking notes.

  

  Gary Shteyngart
  • Look
  • Civilization
  • Pool

• When I hear someone, instantaneously, I'm like, 'Who's singing?' You're giving people so much of yourself, and my voice is the most natural, distinctive tool I have. It's up to me to express myself on a wider scale than just writing vocal melodies and lyrics.

  

  Sampha
  • People
  • Up
  • Writing

• When I started making movies, I was pretty young, and at the time I felt like there needed to be more confrontation in cinema - or I needed to make something more disruptive - so in the beginning, those movies were me wanting to play with the rules.

  

  Harmony Korine
  • Time
  • Pretty
  • Beginning

• My mom says that when I was a little kid, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I don't remember that.

  

  Aaron Douglas
  • Remember
  • Mom
  • Always

• Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.

  

  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
  • May
  • Truth
  • Day

• We tend in this country to talk about Democrats and Republicans, and think there's little group over there called Independents that's maybe 2%. That is not the case, and it has not been the case for most of modern American history.

  

  Adam Davidson
  • Country
  • American
  • History

• My great-grandchildren will not be able to enjoy the Gulf Coast of Louisiana the way I have.

  

  Ian Somerhalder
  • Great
  • Way
  • Enjoy

• I'm not a babysitter.

  

  Adam Lambert
  • Babysitter

• If you be faithful, you will have that honor that comes from God: his Spirit will say in your hearts, Well done, good and faithful servants.

  

  Adam Clarke
  • Good
  • God
  • Done

• My father was an accountant and his father was a typographer.

  

  Umberto Eco
  • Father
  • His
  • Accountant

• Every man I meet is in some way my superior.

  

  Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Man
  • Way
  • Superior

• The Wood was about young people and the other one is more of a grown up movie.

  

  Taye Diggs
  • People
  • Up
  • Movie

• I'm probably proudest of being able to lift a lot of us out of the 'hood. That's the biggest thing, that I've been able to employ a lot of people and give them opportunities.

  

  Queen Latifah
  • People
  • Opportunities
  • Hood

• I believe that we haven't begun to understand the many forces that bind the physical world, any more than we understand our own minds and what they're capable of.

  

  Tamora Pierce
  • World
  • Believe
  • Understand

• Let the workers organize. Let the toilers assemble. Let their crystallized voice proclaim their injustices and demand their privileges. Let all thoughtful citizens sustain them, for the future of Labor is the future of America.

  

  John L. Lewis
  • America
  • Future
  • Thoughtful

• People don't really recognize me often. I think I just look different in person or something. I'm also not very approachable, and maybe they're just like 'Ooohhh, she's scary!'

  

  Kristen Stewart
  • People
  • Different
  • Thinking

• Some of us are born rebellious. Like Jean Genet or Arthur Rimbaud, I roam these mean streets like a villain, a vagabond, an outcast, scavenging for the scraps that may perchance plummet off humanity's dirty plates, though often sometimes taking a cab to a restaurant is more convenient.

  

  Patti Smith
  • May
  • Humanity
  • Dirty

• I've always been quite driven. I take after my father.

  

  Nick Jonas Jonas Brothers
  • Father

• The best years are the forties; after fifty a man begins to deteriorate, but in the forties he is at the maximum of his villainy.

  

  H. L. Mencken
  • Men
  • Years
  • Fifty

• 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
  • People
  • Why
  • History