E. L. Doctorow Quotes

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

E. L. Doctorow

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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

• I'm at a loss for words. But even my loss is amplified.

  

  Talib Kweli Black Star
  • Words
  • Loss
  • Even

• I'm a writer because I love reading. I love the conversation between a reader and a writer, and that it all takes place in a book-sort of a neutral ground. A writer puts down the words, and a reader interprets the words, and every reader will read a book differently. I love that.

  

  Garth Stein
  • Love
  • Book
  • Reading

• The easiest bit is when you're talking. It's listening that is so difficult. If you get out any Spencer Tracy film, you think, 'Wow, he's doing nothing, yet he's doing everything.'

  

  Art Malik
  • Listening

• Love melts the rigor which the rocks have bred; a flint will break upon a feather bed.

  

  John Cleveland

• As a matter of fact, there was a period of time, especially in my first career, when that's the only one who would work out with me: my dogs. As you get better and better working out, there's no one who can keep up with you running.

  

  George Foreman
  • Running
  • Dog
  • Firsts

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

  

  E. L. Doctorow
  • Good
  • Nature
  • Fiction