--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In novels, I said, people are…" description: "\"In novels, I said, people are transfigured by love. They’re elevated, made different, lifted out of their ordinariness…It’s not so much to ask, I said...." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/anatole-broyard-14101_asks_in-novels-i-said-people-are-transfigured_1691715.png" --- # In novels, I said, people are transfigured by love… ![“In novels, I said, people are transfigured by love. They’re elevated, made different, lifted out of their ordinariness…It’s not so much to ask, I said. I just want love to live up to its publicity.” quote by Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/anatole-broyard-14101_asks_in-novels-i-said-people-are-transfigured_1691715.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/anatole-broyard-14101_asks_in-novels-i-said-people-are-transfigured_1691715.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c0/anatole-broyard-14101_asks_in-novels-i-said-people-are-transfigured_1691715.png) > “In novels, I said, people are transfigured by love. They’re elevated, made different, lifted out of their ordinariness…It’s not so much to ask, I said. I just want love to live up to its publicity.” [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Love transforms people, elevating them beyond ordinary life; the speaker desires love to fulfill its celebrated promise. **In simple terms:** Love changes us, making life extraordinary. Key Takeaway Seek love that inspires growth. Themes love transformation idealism Mood romantic reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - marriage - creative collaborations - personal development Key Concepts literature psychology Questions to Reflect On - What does love mean to you beyond romance? - How can you nurture realistic expectations of love? A Different Perspective Idealizing love can lead to disappointment when reality falls short. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Publicity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/publicity/) ## Related quotes > [Sex almost always disappoints me in novels. Everything can be said or done now, and that's what I often find: everything, a feeling of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/sex-almost-always-disappoints-me-in-novels-everything-can-be-said-or/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [Love felt and returned, love which our bodies exact and our hearts have transfigured, love which is the most real thing that we shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-felt-and-returned-love-which-our-bodies-exact-and-our-hearts/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I read novels for entertainment rather than for edification, so I tend not to read the sort of novels that are said to illuminate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/i-read-novels-for-entertainment-rather-than-for-edification-so-i-tend/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Do you write novels?" I said. "Novels, Lord no," she said. "I can't even stay married.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pam-houston/do-you-write-novels-i-said-novels-lord-no-she-said-i-can-t-even-stay/) [Pam Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pam-houston/) > [“Speaking of novels,’ I said, ‘you remember we decided once, you, your husband and I, that Proust’s rough masterpiece was a huge, ghoulish fairy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/speaking-of-novels-i-said-you-remember-we-decided-once-you-your/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [The young artist... will discover out of ordinary things the meaning of ordinariness. He will not try to make them extraordinary. Only their real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-kaprow/the-young-artist-will-discover-out-of-ordinary-things-the-meaning-of/) [Allan Kaprow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allan-kaprow/) > [“You always went through ordinary roads, what did you gain? Just ordinariness! Try an extraordinary road, your reward will be big, you will win…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/you-always-went-through-ordinary-roads-what-did-you-gain-just/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [It is the ordinariness of us that is the same in all of us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorraine-toussaint/it-is-the-ordinariness-of-us-that-is-the-same-in-all-of-us/) [Lorraine Toussaint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorraine-toussaint/) > [The theme of the collection this time is MONSTER. It's not about the typical Monster you find in sci-fi and video games. The expression…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rei-kawakubo/the-theme-of-the-collection-this-time-is-monster-it-s-not-about-the/) [Rei Kawakubo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rei-kawakubo/) > [We are storytelling animals, and cannot bear to acknowledge the ordinariness of our daily lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/we-are-storytelling-animals-and-cannot-bear-to-acknowledge-the/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [One day the ordinariness will be terminally punctuated by the extraordinary full stop of death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-duncan/one-day-the-ordinariness-will-be-terminally-punctuated-by-the/) [Glen Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-duncan/) > [Becoming the beloved is pulling the truth revealed to me from above down into the ordinariness of what I am, in fact, thinking of,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/becoming-the-beloved-is-pulling-the-truth-revealed-to-me-from-above/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Occasionally some individuals let the seeming ordinariness of life dampen their spirits. Though actually coping and growning, others lack the quiet, inner-soul satisfaction that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/occasionally-some-individuals-let-the-seeming-ordinariness-of-life/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [“Odd, don't you think? I have seen war, and invasions and riots. I have heard of massacres and brutalities beyond imagining, and I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-pears/odd-don-t-you-think-i-have-seen-war-and-invasions-and-riots-i-have/) [Iain Pears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-pears/) > [When you're being truly creative, time stands still, and you enter a dimension that can carry you beyond the ordinariness of everyday life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-linn/when-you-re-being-truly-creative-time-stands-still-and-you-enter-a/) [Denise Linn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-linn/) ## More by Anatole Broyard > [The more I like a book, the more reluctant I am to turn the page. Lovers, even book lovers, tend to cling. No one-night…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/the-more-i-like-a-book-the-more-reluctant-i-am-to-turn-the-page/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [If a book is really good, it deserves to be read again, and if it's great, it should be read at least three times.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/if-a-book-is-really-good-it-deserves-to-be-read-again-and-if-it-s/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/it-is-one-of-the-paradoxes-of-american-literature-that-our-writers/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [“The contents of someone's bookcase are part of his history, like and ancestral portrait.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/the-contents-of-someone-s-bookcase-are-part-of-his-history-like-and/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [A whole generation of writers dined out on the dialectic between original cultures and their culture by "progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/a-whole-generation-of-writers-dined-out-on-the-dialectic-between/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [“When we were in bed, the only part of me she touched was my penis, because it was the most detached.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/when-we-were-in-bed-the-only-part-of-me-she-touched-was-my-penis/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [The contents of someone's bookcase are part of his history, like an ancestral portrait.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/the-contents-of-someone-s-bookcase-are-part-of-his-history-like-an/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [There is something about seeing real people on a stage that makes a bad play more intimately, more personally offensive than any other art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/there-is-something-about-seeing-real-people-on-a-stage-that-makes-a/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [Travel is like adultery: one is always tempted to be unfaithful to one's own country. To have imagination is inevitably to be dissatisfied with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/travel-is-like-adultery-one-is-always-tempted-to-be-unfaithful-to-one/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [The tension between 'yes' and no', between 'I can' and 'I cannot,' makes us feel that, in so many instances, human life is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/the-tension-between-yes-and-no-between-i-can-and-i-cannot-makes-us/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [Paranoids are the only ones who notice things anymore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/paranoids-are-the-only-ones-who-notice-things-anymore/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [To choose a writer for a friend is like palling around with your cardiologist, who might be musing as you talk to him that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/to-choose-a-writer-for-a-friend-is-like-palling-around-with-your/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [Lapped in poetry, wrapped in the picturesque, armed with logical sentences and inalienable words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/lapped-in-poetry-wrapped-in-the-picturesque-armed-with-logical/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [“The most dangerous part of lending books lies in the returning. At such times, friendships hang by a thread. I look for agony, ecstasy,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/the-most-dangerous-part-of-lending-books-lies-in-the-returning-at/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [In an age like ours, which is not given to letter-writing, we forget what an important part it used to play in people's lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/in-an-age-like-ours-which-is-not-given-to-letter-writing-we-forget/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) [Explore all 48 Anatole Broyard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) ## More Asks quotes > [If you ask an introvert a question, wait until she thinks about it. Introverts think before speaking, not through speaking. 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It's AIDS, it's herpes, it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-nicholson/freedom-in-every-sense-but-primarily-political-sense-a-rise-in/) [Jack Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-nicholson/) > [Why did Erich von Stronheim leave Germany? Why did Hitchcock leave England? If you were a director you'd like to work in Hollywood too.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roman-polanski/why-did-erich-von-stronheim-leave-germany-why-did-hitchcock-leave/) [Roman Polanski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roman-polanski/) > [There is nothing more I ask of this life than this moment, exactly so. And suddenly forever seems like too short a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-andreas/there-is-nothing-more-i-ask-of-this-life-than-this-moment-exactly-so/) [Brian Andreas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-andreas/) > [Success will come when the societal attitude changes and not a single woman in America asks herself the question 'What did I do?'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-biden/success-will-come-when-the-societal-attitude-changes-and-not-a-single/) [Joe Biden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-biden/) > [The most fundamental question we can ever ask ourselves is whether or not the universe we live in is friendly or hostile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/the-most-fundamental-question-we-can-ever-ask-ourselves-is-whether-or/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [The rich people are apparently leaving America. They're giving up their citizenship. 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