Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes - Page 4

Heaven and earth conspire that everything which has been, be rooted and reduced to dust. Only the dreamers, who dream while awake, call back the shadows of the past and braid nets from the unspun thread.

Shoulders are from God and burdens too.

What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it.

The truth is that what the great religions preached, the Yiddish-speaking people of the ghettos practiced day in and day out. They were the people of The Book in the truest sense of the word. They knew of no greater joy than the study of man and human relations, which they called Torah, Talmud, Mussar, Cabala.

When a human being kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice.

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.

Children have no use for psychology. They detest sociology. They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff. When a book is boring, they yawn openly. They don't expect their writer to redeem humanity, but leave to adults such childish allusions.

No lepidopterist's collection in the entire world...full if iridescent wings, is worth the life of a single butterfly.

Originality is not seen in single words or even in sentences. Originality is the sum total of a man's thinking or his writing.

I was brought up to believe in free will. 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.

When we're trying to decide whether a leader is a good leader or a bad one, the question to ask is: 'Is he with the Ten Commandments or is he against them?' Then you can determine if the leader is a true messiah or another Stalin.

Whatever doesn't really happen is dreamed at night. It happens to one if it doesn't happen to another, tomorrow if not today, or a century hence if not next year.

Children read books, not reviews. They don't give a hoot about critics.

When a human kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice. Man prays for mercy, but is unwilling to extend it to others. Why should man then expect mercy from God? It's unfair to expect something that you are not willing to give.

I have heard from my father and mother all the answers that faith in God could offer to those who doubt and search for the truth. In our home and in many other homes the eternal questions were more actual than the latest news in the Yiddish newspaper. In spite of all the disenchantments and all my skepticism I believe that the nations can learn much from those Jews, their way of thinking, their way of bringing up children, their finding happiness where others see nothing but misery and humiliation.

Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together.

If there would come a voice from God saying, 'I'm against vegetarianism!' I would say, 'Well, I am for it!' This is how strongly I feel in this regard.

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise... Because this is how life is full of surprises.

When a writer tries to explain too much, he's out of time before he begins.

When the time comes I will go joyfully. Whatever may be there, it will be real, without complication, without ridicule, without deception.

The characters have their own lives and their own logic, and you have to act accordingly.

Each soul must accomplish its task, or it would not have been sent here.

It is written, better to be a fool all your days than for one hour to be evil. You are not a fool. They are the fools. For he who causes his neighbor to feel shame loses Paradise himself.

It seems that the analysis of character is the highest human entertainment. And literature does it, unlike gossip, without mentioning names.

To me the Yiddish language and the conduct of those who spoke it are identical.