Isaac Bashevis Singer quotes - page 2

I believe in God but people are liars. It's those people who say they are appointed by God who I don't believe in. (Isaac Bashevis Singer)
For those who are willing to make an effort, great miracles and wonderful treasures are in store. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Night is a time of rigor, but also of mercy. There are truths which one can see only when it's dark. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
The storyteller and poet of our time, as in any other time, must be an entertainer of the spirit in the full sense of the word, not just a preacher of social or political ideals. There is no paradise for bored readers and no excuse for tedious literature that does not intrigue the reader, uplift him, give him the joy and the escape that true art always grants. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
We know what a person thinks not when he tells us what he thinks, but by his actions. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
I have many times resigned myself to never finding a true way out. But a new hope always emerges telling me that it is not yet too late for all of us to take stock and make a decision. I was brought up to believe in free will. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Although I came to doubt all revelation, I can never accept the idea that the Universe is a physical or chemical accident, a result of blind evolution. Even though I learned to recognize the lies, the clichés and the idolatries of the human mind, I still cling to some truths which I think all of us might accept some day. There must be a way for man to attain all possible pleasures, all the powers and knowledge that nature can grant him, and still serve God - a God who speaks in deeds, not in words, and whose vocabulary is the Cosmos. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
There are some who call Yiddish a dead language, but so was Hebrew called for two thousand years. It has been revived in our time in a most remarkable, almost miraculous way. Aramaic was certainly a dead language for centuries but then it brought to light the Zohar, a work of mysticism of sublime value. (Isaac Bashevis Singer)
Take three quarts of duck's milk... View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
I am not ashamed to admit that I belong to those who fantasize that literature is capable of bringing new horizons and new perspectives - philosophical, religious, aesthetical and even social. In the history of old Jewish literature there was never any basic difference between the poet and the prophet. Our ancient poetry often became law and a way of life. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Strange as these words may sound I often play with the idea that when all the social theories collapse and wars and revolutions leave humanity in utter gloom, the poet - whom Plato banned from his Republic - may rise up to save us all. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
I started to "write" even before I knew the alphabet. I would dip a pen in ink and scribble. I also liked to draw - horses, houses, dogs. The Sabbath was an ordeal for me, because it is forbidden to write on that day. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Yiddish has not yet said its last word. It contains treasures that have not been revealed to the eyes of the world. It was the tongue of martyrs and saints, of dreamers and Cabalists - rich in humor and in memories that mankind may never forget. In a figurative way, Yiddish is the wise and humble language of us all, the idiom of frightened and hopeful Humanity. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
We all play chess with Fate as partner. He makes a move, we make a move. He tries to checkmate us in three moves, we try to prevent it. We know we can't win, but we're driven to give him a good fight. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
What a strange power there is in clothing. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. The chasm is never completely bridged. We all have the conviction, perhaps illusory, that we have much more to say than appears on the paper. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
There is great treasure there behind our skull and this is true about all of us. This little treasure has great, great powers, and I would say we only have learnt a very, very small part of what it can do. (Isaac Bashevis Singer)
Originality is not seen in single words or even in sentences. Originality is the sum total of a man's thinking or his writing. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Sometimes love is stronger than a man's convictions. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer
The second half of the twentieth century is a complete flop. View quote
Isaac Bashevis Singer