James Ellroy

I drank, I used drugs, I broke into houses, sniffed women's undergarments. I ate Benzedrex inhalers, jacked off for 18 hours at…

— James Ellroy

Every one of my books is written from the viewpoint of cops, with the exception of my book Killer on the Road,…

— James Ellroy

I haven't been to a movie in a year and a half.

— James Ellroy

Dead people belong to the live people who claim them most obsessively.

— James Ellroy

I love thinking about American history, thinking about LA history. I love brooding on crime.

— James Ellroy

When I look at Perfidia, I think, "That's a Pulitzer Prize winner. That's a National Book Award winner." It's not going to…

— James Ellroy

I needed to address that I've had some profound moral shifts in my own life.

— James Ellroy

I'm grateful for the life I have. I lived bad for many years, and I've got a great life now. I've got…

— James Ellroy

You get up in the morning because you might meet a woman. And if you stay at home by yourself, alone, you…

— James Ellroy

And you love to read, you love to escape, right?

— James Ellroy

I was a WASP kid going to a high school that was 99 percent Jewish and I wanted attention and I wanted…

— James Ellroy

Cats gotta scratch. Dogs gotta bite. I gotta write.

— James Ellroy

“Jimmy Hoffa said, “I know how Jesus must have felt. The fucking pharaohs rose to power on his coattails like the fucking…

— James Ellroy

L.A. ispolluted. It's overpopulated. But it is very much home. It was inevitable for me, the moving back. I was living in…

— James Ellroy

Classical music fulfills for me the function of narrative. I spend 90 minutes a day listening to symphonic music - Beethoven to…

— James Ellroy

I kept saying, "Stop me now. It's going to my head." I got some photos. Really, I did! It's not my noblest…

— James Ellroy

I don't feel in any way obligated to remain current with the culture. I feel no social obligation whatsoever. I trust my…

— James Ellroy

I was in L.A. in '08. It was a cold Saturday night. I had spread my phone number out to a score…

— James Ellroy

The novel is final form; it's the ultimate individual final form. Television and motion pictures never get there. You'd be fabulous to…

— James Ellroy

“Closure is bullshit.”

— James Ellroy

All I want to do is make serious movies that explore social issues and turn a profit, and slip the schnitzel to…

— James Ellroy

I'm clenched down, I'm locked in on it, which is my general approach to life.

— James Ellroy

“Downtown, a dress for Meg- I do it every time I kill a man.”

— James Ellroy

“The left one's the hospital, the right one's death. The right one steals your life while the left steals your breath. These…

— James Ellroy

How did I change my life? I wanted things. I wanted women and I wanted to write books.

— James Ellroy