It is one of the paradoxes of American literature that our writers are forever looking back with love and nostalgia at lives they couldn't wait to leave.

Quote by Anatole Broyard

Topics: Writers Quotes

To be misunderstood can be the writer's punishment for having disturbed the reader's peace. The...

To be misunderstood can be the writer's punishment for having disturbed the reader's peace. The...

The first divorce in the world may have been a tragedy, but the hundred-millionth is...

The first divorce in the world may have been a tragedy, but the hundred-millionth is...

Ruefulness is one of the classical tones of American fiction. It fosters a native, deglamorized...

Ruefulness is one of the classical tones of American fiction. It fosters a native, deglamorized...

There is something about seeing real people on a stage that makes a bad play...

There is something about seeing real people on a stage that makes a bad play...

If a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it's...

If a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it's...

Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.

Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.

A whole generation of writers dined out on the dialectic between original cultures and their...

A whole generation of writers dined out on the dialectic between original cultures and their...

We are all tourists in history, and irony is what we win in wars.

We are all tourists in history, and irony is what we win in wars.

Aphorisms are bad for novels. They stick in the reader's teeth.

Aphorisms are bad for novels. They stick in the reader's teeth.

The tension between yes and o, between I can and I cannot, makes us feel...

The tension between yes and o, between I can and I cannot, makes us feel...

When friends stop being frank and useful to each other, the whole world loses some...

When friends stop being frank and useful to each other, the whole world loses some...

There was a time when we expected nothing of our children but obedience, as opposed...

There was a time when we expected nothing of our children but obedience, as opposed...

To be misunderstood can be the writer's punishment for having disturbed the reader's peace. The...

To be misunderstood can be the writer's punishment for having disturbed the reader's peace. The...

The epic implications of being human end in more than this: We start our lives...

The epic implications of being human end in more than this: We start our lives...

If a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it's...

If a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it's...

His father, Vincent, took him to La Coupole in Paris and, after sitting on the...

His father, Vincent, took him to La Coupole in Paris and, after sitting on the...

Lapped in poetry, wrapped in the picturesque, armed with logical sentences and inalienable words.

Lapped in poetry, wrapped in the picturesque, armed with logical sentences and inalienable words.

Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.

Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.

My view was that the campaign had been a sacred thing, that it had been...

My view was that the campaign had been a sacred thing, that it had been...

My first day in Chicago, September 4, 1983. I set foot in this city, and...

My first day in Chicago, September 4, 1983. I set foot in this city, and...

I will beat thee into handsomeness

I will beat thee into handsomeness