E. L. Doctorow Quotes & Sayings (Page 6)

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

“Writing is immensely difficult. The short forms especially.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“The important thing is not to be too comfortable when you're writing. Noise in the street? That's good. The computer goes down? That's good. All these things are good. It has to be a little bit of a struggle.”

“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.”

“Washington is designed not to solve problems. Congress is so beholden to the money that any solution in the general interest will be frustrated and subverted by the corporate interests who feel they will be damaged by progress, fair play and justice.”