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.

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.

E. L. Doctorow

I'm not the sort of writer who can walk into a party and take a look around, see who's sleeping with whom and go home and write a novel about society. It's not the way I work.

I'm not the sort of writer who can walk into a party and take a look around, see who's sleeping with whom and go home and write a novel about society. It's not the way I work.

E. L. Doctorow

Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.

Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.

E. L. Doctorow

It seems to me that in literature, books have always been answers to other books.

It seems to me that in literature, books have always been answers to other books.

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

Each book tends to have its own identity rather than the author's. It speaks from itself rather than you. Each book is unlike the others because you are not bringing the same voice to every book. I think that keeps you alive as a writer.

E. L. Doctorow

To have the regard of one's peers is immensely moving.

To have the regard of one's peers is immensely moving.

E. L. Doctorow

Obama is a great man who's just beginning to understand the realities. And I'm not just saying that because he reads my books. I would have voted for him anyway.

Obama is a great man who's just beginning to understand the realities. And I'm not just saying that because he reads my books. I would have voted for him anyway.

E. L. Doctorow

I get intrigued by a first lin and I write to find out why it means something to me. You make discoveries just the way the reader does, so you're simultaneously the writer and the reader.

I get intrigued by a first lin and I write to find out why it means something to me. You make discoveries just the way the reader does, so you're simultaneously the writer and the reader.

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

Copyright © Softland 2016-2026. All rights reserved.