James Ellroy quotes

Some people don't respond to civility. (James Ellroy)
I would like to provoke ambiguous responses in my readers. View quote
James Ellroy
To me, there's nothing on earth other than women. It's why I get out of bed every morning. View quote
James Ellroy
Anybody who doesn't know that politics is crime has got a few screws loose. View quote
James Ellroy
I am a writer. I could not afford to take 15 months off from my writing career to play detective. View quote
James Ellroy
America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked back with no regrets. You can't ascribe our fall from grace to any single event or set of circumstances. You can't lose what you lacked at conception. View quote
James Ellroy
I love thinking about American history, thinking about LA history. I love brooding on crime. View quote
James Ellroy
I am conservative by temperament. I disapprove of criminal activity. I am very solidly and markedly on the side of authority. The truth is I would rather err on the side of too much authority than too little. View quote
James Ellroy
Noir is dead for me because historically, I think it's a simple view. I've taken it as far as it can go. I think I've expanded on it a great deal, taken it further than any other American novelist. View quote
James Ellroy
As much as I transferred my mother to Elizabeth Shore of The Black Dahlia, as much as her dad mutated into an obsession with crime in general, well, I have thought about other things throughout the years. View quote
James Ellroy
Some men get the world, some men get ex-hookers and a trip to Arizona. You're in with the former, but my God I don't envy the blood on your conscience. (James Ellroy)
It was easy not to think of my future; I didn't have one. View quote
James Ellroy
I don't know anybody in the underworld. I make this stuff up. I don't know any criminals. View quote
James Ellroy
I'm getting a wider circle of fans now. More women, more middle class people. View quote
James Ellroy
Cats gotta scratch. Dogs gotta bite. I gotta write. View quote
James Ellroy
I learn things late-and only the hard way. View quote
James Ellroy
I think the great unspoken theme in noir fiction is male self-pity. It pervades noir movies. View quote
James Ellroy
When I was a kid, Eisenhower had been President forever, and all of a sudden, everything in the world was all about Jack Kennedy. I was 12, interested in politics; my father was from Massachusetts, had an accent like Kennedy. View quote
James Ellroy
"War gives men a plain-and-simple something to do ... Women write diaries in the hope that their words will beckon fate." It's a romantic manifesto. View quote
James Ellroy
Rock and rollers can get you the youth buzz, and younger people are fanatical readers. View quote
James Ellroy
Raymond Chandler once wrote that Dashiell Hammett gave murder back to the people who really committed it. (James Ellroy)
Every one of my books is written from the viewpoint of cops, with the exception of my book Killer on the Road, which is written from the viewpoint of a serial killer. View quote
James Ellroy
I've been tremendously moved by a bunch of odd books. Ross McDonald is very important to me. I love the Lew Archer books. View quote
James Ellroy
As a kid, I sensed history going on all around me, but the basic thrust of it didn't move me. View quote
James Ellroy
I needed to address that I've had some profound moral shifts in my own life. View quote
James Ellroy