Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes
The very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect, between life and death. When literature becomes too intellectual - when it begins to ignore the passions, the emotions - it becomes sterile, silly, and actually without substance.
Quotes to Explore
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One of the most sacred purposes for which the scriptures were written was to make it possible for all to know Christ. The scriptures teach and testify of Jesus Christ. They teach us much that we need to know and to do to return to the presence of the Savior.
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I've never been able to understand what they mean by 'Pinteresque,'. I'm sure it's indefinable.
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Lobbying is a legitimate profession... Many congressional spouses act as lobbyists.
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The deadliest foe to virtue would be complete self-knowledge.
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There ought to be more grants that go to people in their late twenties and early thirties. That's a crucial age, although it's very hard to judge who is worth supporting and who is not. Looking back on my own life, I see that was the period when I was closest to giving up as a novelist and when I most needed some encouragement.
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Alienation as our present destiny is achieved only by outrageous violence perpetrated by human beings on human beings.
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If I had to study and work hard, it would have to have the reward of a lot of cash.
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Gossip, even when it avoids the sexual, bears around it a faint flavor of the erotic.
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In Kenya, I met wonderful girls; girls who wanted to help their communities. I was with them in their school, listening to their dreams. They still have hope. They want to be doctor and teachers and engineers.
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On the other hand, the American public possesses a great resilience and strength, and good risk communication strategies can tap into and even amplify those assets.
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You only mature when you face problems you can't deal with.
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I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
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Be fond of the man who jests at his scars, if you like; but never believe he is being on the level with you.
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I approve of anyone wearing what the establishment says you must not wear.
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Early on, even before he was the front-runner, TV news was giving Trump far more attention than other candidates and far more than he deserved.
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If you eat something and get fat, you should be responsible for it. I think that is the attitude of the great majority of Americans, that you should be responsible for what you eat.
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Agatha Christie holds special personal memories for me because my mum, a television producer called Pat Sandys, had been the first person to persaude the Agatha Christie estate to put one of her stories on T.V.
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Children in their young teens are just moving into the moment when they are most receptive to philosophy and psychology. You can explore these things in stories and, in doing so, give them power and control.
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All abstract sciences are nothing but the study of relations between signs.
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I don't think literature would be possible in a determined world. We might go through the motions but the heart would be out of it. Nobody could then 'smile darkly and ignore the howls.' Even if there were no Church to teach me this, writing two novels would do it. I think the more you write, the less inclined you will be to rely on theories like determinism. Mystery isn't something that is gradually evaporating. It grows along with knowledge.
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Socrates ... is the first philosopher of life [Lebensphilosoph], ... Thinking serves life, while among all previous philosophers life had served thought and knowledge. ... Thus Socratic philosophy is absolutely practical: it is hostile to all knowledge unconnected to ethical implications.
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I like English spirit.
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For Noah, preaching 120 years without results meant choosing the hard road year after year. Nehemiah, building the wall of Jerusalem, faced constant harassment by enemies from within and without. We cannot honestly, authentically, reasonably and deliberately serve our Lord without our willingness to accept difficulties and inconveniences.
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The very essence of literature is the war between emotion and intellect, between life and death. When literature becomes too intellectual - when it begins to ignore the passions, the emotions - it becomes sterile, silly, and actually without substance.
