“Eclecticism is the word. Like a jazz musician who creates his own style out of the styles around him, I play by ear.”
Other Ralph Ellison Quotes
The understanding of art depends finally upon one's willingness to extend one's humanity and one's knowledge of human life.
Ralph Ellison 
62% of people like this quote
There are few things in the world as dangerous as sleepwalkers.
Ralph Ellison
55% of people like this quote
By and large, the critics and readers gave me an affirmed sense of my identity as a writer. You might know this within yourself, but to have it affirmed by others is of utmost importance. Writing is, after all, a form of communication.
Ralph Ellison
54% of people like this quote
Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.
Ralph Ellison
54% of people like this quote
If the word has the potency to revive and make us free, it has also the power to blind, imprison, and destroy.
Ralph Ellison
53% of people like this quote