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.

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.

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

My books start almost before I realise it. Once in a while, some accident causes an idea to rise to the surface and say: 'now.'

My books start almost before I realise it. Once in a while, some accident causes an idea to rise to the surface and say: 'now.'

E. L. Doctorow

When you're working well, you don't do research. Whatever you need comes to you.

When you're working well, you don't do research. Whatever you need comes to you.

E. L. Doctorow

I have a number of vices, one of which is moderation.

I have a number of vices, one of which is moderation.

E. L. Doctorow

If we ever find out how the brain works, with all its complexity, then we will be able to build a machine that has consciousness. And if that happens, that is a road to planetary disaster because everything we've thought about ourselves, since the Bronze Age, the Bible, all of that will be gone.

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

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

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

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

There are two books that impressed me when I was very young. One was 'The Adventures of Augie March' - the idea of having something so generous, and so adventurous and improvisatory. The other was 'The U.S.A. Trilogy,' by John Dos Passos.

E. L. Doctorow

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