In novels, I said, people are transfigured by love. Theyโre elevated, made different, lifted out of their ordinarinessโฆItโs not so much to ask, I said. I just want love to live up to its publicity.
Anatole BroyardTo choose a writer for a friend is like palling around with your cardiologist, who might be musing as you talk to him that you are a sinking man. A writer's love for another writer is never quite free of malice. He may enjoy discussing your failures even more than you do. He probably sees you as tragic, like his characters - or unworthy of tragedy, which is worse.
Anatole BroyardEither a writer doesn't want to talk about his work, or he talks about it more than you want.
Anatole BroyardIf a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it's great, it should be read at least three times.
Anatole BroyardTravel is like adultery: one is always tempted to be unfaithful to one's own country. To have imagination is inevitably to be dissatisfied with where you live. There is in men, as Peter Quennell said, "a centrifugal tendency." In our wanderlust, we are lovers looking for consummation.
Anatole Broyard