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 like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

E. L. Doctorow

The writer isn't made in a vacuum. Writers are witnesses. The reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century.

The writer isn't made in a vacuum. Writers are witnesses. The reason we need writers is because we need witnesses to this terrifying century.

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

My father was the proprietor of a music shop on Forty-third Street, where many of the finest performers and musicians of the day would come to shop. He knew the classical repertoire inside out.

My father was the proprietor of a music shop on Forty-third Street, where many of the finest performers and musicians of the day would come to shop. He knew the classical repertoire inside out.

E. L. Doctorow

Here's how it goes: I'm up at the stroke of 10 or 10:30. I have breakfast and read the papers, and then it's lunchtime. Then maybe a little nap after lunch and out to the gym, and before I know it, it's time to have a drink.

E. L. Doctorow

The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.

The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like.

E. L. Doctorow

People come out of the mid-west and go to the Ivy League. I kind of reversed the direction.

People come out of the mid-west and go to the Ivy League. I kind of reversed the direction.

E. L. Doctorow

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

E. L. Doctorow

When you're writing a book, you don't really think about it critically. You don't want to know too well what you're doing. First, you write the book, then you find the justification for it.

When you're writing a book, you don't really think about it critically. You don't want to know too well what you're doing. First, you write the book, then you find the justification for it.

E. L. Doctorow

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

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