Top 59 Quotes by E. L. Doctorow

About E. L. Doctorow

These are some quotes by American author E. L. Doctorow Author, who lived between January 6, 1931 and July 21, 2015.

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.

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

Like art and politics, gangsterism is a very important avenue of assimilation into society.

Like art and politics, gangsterism is a very important avenue of assimilation into society.

E. L. Doctorow

From my undergraduate days, I've always been interested in the major philosophical questions that don't seem to have an answer that everyone agrees on.

From my undergraduate days, I've always been interested in the major philosophical questions that don't seem to have an answer that everyone agrees on.

E. L. Doctorow

My sense of what a book should be has changed so radically. I like to think for the better.

My sense of what a book should be has changed so radically. I like to think for the better.

E. L. Doctorow

My theory about why Hemingway killed himself is that he heard his own voice; that he reached the point where he couldn't write without feeling he was repeating himself. That's the worst thing that can happen to a writer.

E. L. Doctorow

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

E. L. Doctorow

I began to ask two questions while I was reading a book that excited me: not only what was going to happen next, but how is this done? How is it that these words on the page make me feel the way I'm feeling? This is the line of inquiry that I think happens in a child's mind, without him even knowing he has aspirations as a writer.

E. L. Doctorow

I thought I would lose, so I didn't prepare a speech.

I thought I would lose, so I didn't prepare a speech.

E. L. Doctorow

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

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

E. L. Doctorow

I like commas. I detest semi-colons - I don't think they belong in a story. And I gave up quotation marks long ago. I found I didn't need them, they were fly-specks on the page.

I like commas. I detest semi-colons - I don't think they belong in a story. And I gave up quotation marks long ago. I found I didn't need them, they were fly-specks on the page.

E. L. Doctorow

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