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All James Ellroy Quotes
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.
James Ellroy
56% of people like this quote
The truth of the matter is, you lose a parent to murder when you're 10 years old, and in fact at the time of the murder you hate your lost parent, my mother in my case.
James Ellroy
56% of people like this quote
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.
James Ellroy
55% of people like this quote
Raymond Chandler once wrote that Dashiell Hammett gave murder back to the people who really committed it.
James Ellroy
55% of people like this quote
As a kid, I sensed history going on all around me, but the basic thrust of it didn't move me.
James Ellroy
55% of people like this quote
Rock and rollers can get you the youth buzz, and younger people are fanatical readers.
James Ellroy
54% of people like this quote
I'm clenched down, I'm locked in on it, which is my general approach to life.
James Ellroy
54% of people like this quote
I put on such a good show, the story is outrageous, and people don't want to hear that I'm basically a reasonable human being. As long as it continues to get me print, I'll continue to perform in an exuberant manner.
James Ellroy
54% of people like this quote
I am the most well-adjusted human being I know. I started out this investigation as a very happy man with a great career. I've got the life people dream about: I am rich, I am famous, I've got a fabulous marriage to an absolutely, spell-bindingly brilliant woman.
James Ellroy
53% of people like this quote
My mother and I will continue on some level that I haven't determined yet. I think my mother's a great character, and I have to say that giving my mother to the world has to be the biggest thrill of my writing career.
James Ellroy
52% of people like this quote
I've been tremendously moved by a bunch of odd books. Ross McDonald is very important to me. I love the Lew Archer books.
James Ellroy
52% of people like this quote
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.
James Ellroy
51% of people like this quote
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.
James Ellroy
50% of people like this quote
I want to see these bad, bad, bad, bad men come to grips with their humanity.
James Ellroy
50% of people like this quote
I was a WASP kid going to a high school that was 99 percent Jewish and I wanted attention and I wanted to make a spectacle of myself because I couldn't stand to be ignored.
James Ellroy
49% of people like this quote
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