Anatole Broyard Quotes

In my opinion, what makes a great book is something that is universally specific.

Reading should be a repeat performance.

There are good books and there are bad books, period, that's the distinction.

The whole purpose of books is that we read them, and if you find you can't, it might not be your inadequacy that's to blame. 'Good' books can be pretty awful sometimes.

That's what people expect: They don't want to read a slight novel. People don't want to waste their time on anything less than 'great.'

I always think of books as being like people. Even the dull ones are worthy of decent respect, but you don't have to seek them out and spend time with them.

A good book is always on tap; it may be decanted and drunk a hundred times, and it is still there for further imbibement.

The virtue of books is to be readable.

No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.

There are only two kinds of books -- good books and the others. The good are winnowed from the bad through the democracy of time.

What should a good children’s book be like? If you ask me, I can tell you after thinking long and hard: It must be good.

Great books write themselves, only bad books have to be written.

Great books conserve time.

An award does not change the quality of a book.

Clearly one must read every good book at least once every ten years.

I'm never ashamed to read a book twice or as many times as I want. We never expect to drink a glass of water just once in our lives. A book can be that essential, too.

The best book of the year, Grobel's writing is quite marvelous. The Hustons reads vividly, just like one of John Huston's great films.

When I take up a book I have read before, I know what to expect; the satisfaction is not lessened by being anticipated. I shake hands with, and look our old tried and valued friend in the face,--compare notes and chat the hour away.

In some respects the better a book is, the less it demands from the binding.

Books worth reading are worth re-reading.

What makes a good book? Scholars and critics have been debating that question for decades. I like books that touch my head and my heart at the same time.

A man can write one book that can be great, but this doesn't make him a great writer-just the writer of a great book. . . I think a writer has to extend very widely, as well as plunge very deep, to be a great novelist.

Besides, rereading, not reading, is what counts.

I have respect for literature. If he found the words, if she found the words - this is a book!