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.

quote by E.L. Doctorow
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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.

quote by E.L. Doctorow
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I can walk into a bookstore and hand over my credit card and they don't know who the hell I am. Maybe that says something about bookstore clerks.

quote by E.L. Doctorow
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Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.

quote by E.L. Doctorow
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Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.

quote by E.L. Doctorow
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In the twentieth century one of the most personal relationships to have developed is that of the person and the state. It's become a fact of life that governments have become very intimate with people, most always to their detriment.

quote by E.L. Doctorow
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