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I've always felt that no one understands why some books of non-fiction endure and some don't, because there's not much understanding among many non-fiction writers that the narrative is terribly important.

Robert Caro

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Robert Caro
Age: 89
Born: 1935
Born: October 30
Historian
Journalist
Writer
New York City
New York
Robert Allan Caro
Robert A. Caro
Felt
Understands
Book
Narrative
Many
Endure
Important
Writers
Much
Among
Always
Fiction
Books
Understanding
Terribly

More quotes by Robert Caro

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Everything seems to be going faster and faster. It's really harder to create something that endures. The New York City Ballet has succeeded in doing that.
Robert Caro
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If it's coming near the end of a chapter and I'm really getting into it, I tend to get up earlier and earlier, just because I'm excited to get to work.
Robert Caro
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The moment the curtain rose on that first ballet, I knew something wonderful and new had come into my life. I can still see the first scene. The ballet was Divertimento No. 15
Robert Caro
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Robert Moses wasn't elected to anything. We're taught that in a democracy power comes from being elected. He had more power than anyone, and he held it for 48 years
Robert Caro
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There's a theory, and I think the theory is right, that in order to make a change you've got to make the whole language of the page harmonious. Well, that's a lot easier with a computer.
Robert Caro
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I deliberately made an effort not to become an expert on the ballet.
Robert Caro
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Nobody believes this, but I write very fast.
Robert Caro
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Ballet is sort of a mystery to me. And I don't want to unravel that mystery.
Robert Caro
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Whenever I go to work I wear a jacket and a tie, because I'm inherently quite lazy, and my books take so long to do, and my publishers don't bug me, so it's so easy to fool yourself into thinking you're working harder than you really are.
Robert Caro
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I never went to a ballet until I was 45 years old. I don't know why.
Robert Caro
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Herman Brown was a businessman who wanted value for money spent. His relationships with politicians were measured by that criterion.
Robert Caro
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You have to be an extremely good reader to appreciate what a good writer is. There are some people who are completely insensitive to good writing.
Robert Caro
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I try to have a mood or a rhythm for a chapter.
Robert Caro
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My interest is in power. How power works.
Robert Caro
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I used to work very long hours. Then I started to realize that the stuff that I was writing in the late afternoons, I was generally throwing out. So I quit earlier than I used to.
Robert Caro
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As you get older, you sometimes feel that it's harder and harder to get something new and wonderful to come into your life.
Robert Caro
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The New York City Ballet is obviously speaking to a whole new generation and bringing it the same wonder and beauty that it brought previous generations
Robert Caro
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I sometimes feel that if your book sells more than 20 years, then there's something in it that you can say, gee, I did something that endures, that's timeless
Robert Caro
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The Senate is an unknowing world
Robert Caro
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I never wanted to do biography just to tell the life of a famous man. I always wanted to use the life of a man to examine political power, because democracy shapes our lives
Robert Caro