Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes
There is no death. How can there be death if everything is part of the Godhead? The soul never dies and the body is never really alive.
We are all God's creatures-that we pray to God for mercy and justice while we continue to eat the flesh of animals that are slaughtered on our account is not consistent.
If Moses had been paid newspaper rates for the Ten Commandments, he might have written the Two Thousand Commandments.
To me the Yiddish language and the conduct of those who spoke it are identical.
They still believe in God, the family, angels, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other obsolete stuff.
When a day passes, it is no longer there. What remains of it? Nothing more than a story. If stories weren't told or books weren't written, man would live like the beasts, only for the day.
The sexual organs are the most sensitive organs of the human being. They are not diplomats. They tell the truth.
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 many ways, astrology, numerology and palmistry are corruptions of the occult because they have attempted to make a practice out of something that is essentially imaginative.
In our time, when the literature for adults is deteriorating, good books for children are the only hope, the only refuge.
One can find in the Yiddish tongue and in the Yiddish spirit expressions of pious joy, lust for life, longing for the Messiah, patience and deep appreciation of human individuality.
Sometimes you have the feeling that some little imp is standing behind you and dictating to you, but he gives it to you slowly, drop by drop.
Actually, the true story of a person's life can never be written. It is beyond the power of literature. The full tale of any life would be both utterly boring and utterly unbelievable.
Some of my cronies call me a pessimist and a decadent, but there is always a background of faith behind resignation.
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.
God gave us so many emotions, and so many strong ones. Every human being, even if he is an idiot, is a millionaire in emotions.
No doubt the world is entirely an imaginary world, but it is only once removed from the true world.
There is a plan to this universe. There is a high intelligence, maybe even a purpose, but it's given to us on the installment plan.
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.
It seems that the analysis of character is the highest human entertainment. And literature does it, unlike gossip, without mentioning names.
What happened was no accident. Everything was preordained. True, the will was free, but heaven also made its ordinances.
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.
When literature becomes overly erudite, it means that interest in the art has gone and curiosity about the artist is what's important. It becomes a kind of idolatry.
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.
A story to me must have some surprise...I must have a passion to write the story.
Those who run around with women don't walk tightropes. They find it hard enough to crawl on the ground.
What's the good of not believing? Today it's your wife you don't believe; tomorrow it's God Himself you won't take stock in.
It is a fact that the classics of Yiddish literature are also the classics of the modern Hebrew literature.
The pessimism of the creative person is not decadence but a mighty passion for the redemption of man.
As much as I can give of myself I give of myself. There's no reason why not. And when I have to hide something, I let the character speak.
The New England conscience doesn't keep you from doing what you shouldn't - it just keeps you from enjoying it.
We write not only for children but also for their parents. They, too, are serious children.
Every body resisted (the slaughterer) in its own fashion, tried to escape and seemed to argue with the Creator to its last breath.
The genuine writer cannot ignore the fact that the family is losing its spiritual foundation.
