E. L. Doctorow Quotes

The nature of good fiction is that it dwells in ambiguity.

E. L. Doctorow

• Good
• Nature
• Fiction

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• I went through a lot in middle school, and you always try so many different looks and try to be so many different people. I finally realized I'm awkward, I'm lanky, and I'm going to embrace it - make fun of myself and just laugh.

  

  Ireland Baldwin
  • People
  • Different
  • School

• I like to dress for my body type and for my coloring.

  

  Victoria Justice
  • Like
  • Body
  • Dress

• I made up 'Badlands'; anything I say, goes. I came to realize I was materializing a metaphor for my mental state.

  

  Halsey
  • Up
  • Say
  • Realize

• I'm not in the K-1 tournament. We thought about it but they really don't want me as they feel I might get hurt so that's fine with me but I do see a lot of guys out there that I feel I can take.

  

  Larry Holmes
  • Me
  • Hurt
  • Feel

• I don't jog, if I die I want to be sick.

  

  Abe Lemons
  • Want
  • Die
  • Sick

• We were descended from royalty.

  

  Natalie Wood
  • Royalty
  • Were
  • Descended

• I used to do all my programming on a BBC computer. It was limited to 16 tracks, and you used the keyboard, not a mouse, to input, but I was using it so long, I got quite fast at it.

  

  Vince Clarke Depeche Mode
  • Long
  • Fast
  • Programming

• The interaction between the two matters, but to me, each doesn't really exist independently of the other, so I'm not ever faced with a situation where the tone is wrong for the story, or the story wrong for the tone. They are two parts of one thing.

  

  Rachel Kushner
  • Me
  • Story
  • Situation

• It brings me no joy and not enough comfort to dwell too much on things I've said or written or made or worn in the past.

  

  Tavi Gevinson
  • Past
  • Me
  • Joy

• The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

  

  Warren Bennis
  • Challenges
  • Leader
  • Manager

• I think, as far as branching out with acting, it would take something really right on the mark to distract me from music, because music is everything to me.

  

  Taylor Swift
  • Music
  • Think
  • Me

• I played a nerdy guy on 'CSI: NY' for nine years. I want to be bad for a while. I want to be really, really bad.

  

  A. J. Buckley
  • Bad
  • Guy
  • Want

• My mother's kitchen was built to be the focal point of our house. I got into the kitchen often as a child.

  

  Gail Simmons
  • Mother
  • House
  • Child

• My dad is always there for me, and no matter how busy, he always makes it a point to answer my calls. I think he knows what is best for me better than me and is very involved in planning my career. Feel blessed to have a dad like him.

  

  Ram Charan
  • Career
  • Dad
  • Best

• Even Colin Powell who was everywhere before he became secretary of state, just stopped going out. I think part of it was he didn't want to be viewed suspiciously by the other people in the White House who rarely go anywhere.

  

  Sally Quinn
  • People
  • Think
  • Want

• The idea that I could push the envelope using dedication and research and endless curiosity has propelled me in my life's work.

  

  Randy Schekman
  • Life
  • Work
  • Curiosity

• There are as many forms of happiness as sorrow, though most prove fleeting.

  

  Felix Dennis
  • Happiness
  • Sorrow
  • Prove

• There is a kind of misconception that Asian-Americans are not as American as European-Americans.

  

  B. D. Wong
  • American
  • Kind

• What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it.

  

  Isaac Bashevis Singer
  • Nature
  • Never
  • Eternity

• We have to look forward and keep filming new films and not get stuck in the past.

  

  Nick Park
  • Past
  • Stuck
  • Filming

• We have had some bad incidents and there continue to be allegations of others which will be investigated; but overwhelmingly American forces there, putting their lives on the line every day, protecting Iraqis, helping to liberate them, that is appreciated by the Iraqi people and by the Prime Minister.

  

  Condoleezza Rice
  • People
  • American
  • Bad

• Now, here's a good question: should serious people focus on global political instability - terrorism, failing states, nuclear weapons - or should we focus on global climate instability - droughts, floods, extreme weather? Here's the correct answer: yes, both, because climate disruption will make every other national security problem worse.

  

  Van Jones
  • People
  • Good
  • Political

• I don't think actresses' lives in general are very good.

  

  Claire Bloom
  • Good

• The nature of good fiction is that it dwells in ambiguity.

  

  E. L. Doctorow
  • Good
  • Nature
  • Fiction