Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by E. L. Doctorow

Quote by E. L. Doctorow

Work

Ragtime, The March, and Homer & Langley: Three Bestselling Novels

Ragtime delves into the early 20th century, weaving together the lives of a Jewish immigrant family, a black musician, and a white aristocrat. The March follows the journey of a Union soldier during the Civil War. Homer & Langley presents the story of two brothers living in New York City during the early 20th century, their lives untouched by the outside world. more

Author

E. L. Doctorow
E. L. Doctorow

E. L. Doctorow was an American author renowned for his historical novels. His works often use the backdrop of American history to delve into the complexities of human nature. Born on January 6, 1931, Doctorow passed away on July 21, 2015. more

You May Also Like

“Banks and churches and courtrooms all depend on the appurtenances of theatre. On illusion. Banks, the illusion of stability and honourable dealings to the rot and corruption of capitalist exploitation. Churches the illusion of sacred sanctuary of purposes of pacifying social discontent. Courtrooms of course designed to promote the illusion of solemn justice. If there was true justice why would such trappings be necessary? Wouldn't a table and chairs and an ordinary room serve just as well?”

IfsWellsPurposeCoursesSocialChurchJusticeRoomsDependsOrdinaryIllusionTablesSacredCorruptionTheatreChairsStabilityCapitalistExploitationSolemnDiscontentSanctuaryDealingsCourtroomTrue JusticeTables And Chairs
Author:E. L. Doctorow
Create image

“Leo Crowley, Harry [Truman]'s Foreign Economic Administrator, tells Congressmen the theory...: 'If you create good governments in foreign countries, automatically you will have better markets for ourselves.' With that honeycunt staring you in the face, you'd forget your grammar too.”

IfsCountryGovernmentFacesForgetEconomicTheoryStaringGrammarForget YouCongressmanForeign CountriesAdministratorsTrumanHarry Truman
Book:The Book of Daniel: A Novel
Create image

“There are moments when I cannot bear this unremitting consciousness. It knows only itself. Awake, I am in a continuum with my dreams. I feel my typewriters, my table, my chair to have that assurance of a solid world, where things take up space, where is not the endless emptiness of insubstantial thought that leads to nowhere but itself. My memories pale as I prevail upon them again and again. They become more and more ghostly. I fear nothing so much as losing them altogether and having only my blank endless mind to live in.”

KnowsWorldFeelsMindMomentsDreamMemoriesSpaceConsciousnessBearsLosingTablesEndlessAwakeEmptinessChairsPaleAgain And AgainBlankAssuranceFear NotTypewritersContinuumFear Nothing
Author:E. L. Doctorow
Create image

“You can't remember sex. You can remember the fact of it, and recall the setting, and even the details, but the sex of the sex cannot be remembered, the substantive truth of it, it is by nature self-erasing, you can remember its anatomy and be left with a judgment as to the degree of your liking of it, but whatever it is as a splurge of being, as a loss, as a charge of the conviction of love stopping your heart like your execution, there is no memory of it in the brain, only the deduction that it happened and that time passed, leaving you with a silhouette that you want to fill in again.”

WantHeartSelfFactsRememberLeftSexMemoriesLossBrainHappenedLike YouDegreesJudgmentLeavingDetailsConvictionSettingSettingsRememberedExecutionRecallsStoppingAnatomyTime PassesDeductionsSilhouettesNo Memory
Author:E. L. Doctorow
Create image