Quotes by Ragtime I am often asked the question How can the masses permit themselves to be exploited by the few. The answer is By being persuaded to identify with them. E. L. Doctorow ragtime permit answers The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like. E. L. Doctorow ragtime historian novelists It proposed that human beings, by the act of making witness, warranted times and places for their existence other than the time and place they were living through. E. L. Doctorow ragtime existence witness It was evident to him that the world composed and recomposed itself constantly in an endless process of dissatisfaction. E. L. Doctorow ragtime process world Ragtime was my lullaby. Hoagy Carmichael ragtime lullaby Ragtime was a fanfare for the 20th century. Russell Lynes ragtime 20th-century century One day the 'Maple Leaf' will make me King of Ragtime Composers. Scott Joplin ragtime one-day kings