Anatole Broyard

Anatole Broyard (July 16, 1920 – October 11, 1990) was an American literary critic for the New York Times. He is notable for denying his African ancestry by passing as white.

Quotes

 * 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.
 * New York Times 16th March 1973.


 * An aphorism is a generalization of sorts, and our present-day writers seem more at home with the particular.
 * ‘Wisdom of Aphorisms’, New York Times, 30th April 1983.


 * The contents of someone's bookcase are part of his history, like an ancestral portrait.
 * ‘About Books, Recoiling, Rereading, Retelling’, New York Times, February 22, 1987.


 * A good book is never exhausted. It goes on whispering to you from the wall.
 * ‘About Books, Recoiling, Rereading, Retelling’, New York Times, February 22, 1987.