Eva Hoffman Quotes
The structures of collective and personal life in Polish shtetls were so exactly defined as to be infinitely replicable — as the structure of a honeycomb is replicable throughout a beehive. Each shtetl was a self-contained world, and each was utterly recognizable as an instance of its kind. This consistency, the patterned predictability of life, was undoubtedly part of the shtetl's strength. But it also meant that the shtetl was a deeply conservative organism, resistant to innovation, individuality, or rebellion. It is hard to think of any analogues to the early shtetl society, for its character was part untouchable and part Brahmin, simultaneously ancient and pioneering, both pragmatically materialistic and sternly religious. It was a peculiar, idiosyncratic form of a rural, populist theocracy.
Quotes to Explore
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Comfort and luxury are usually the chief requirements of life for your ego - its top priorities tend to be accumulations, achievements, and the approval of others.
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Of course I get angry, but I want to use my brain a little bit and not just smash things.
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I remember when people actually wore coats and ties to theatre every night. They don't anymore. It's very different.
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There are too many books I haven't read, too many places I haven't seen, too many memories I haven't kept long enough.
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We don't need bigger government. We need to shrink the size of government.
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I come from a generation that suffered school lessons in portacabins and crumbling hospitals. I tell you one thing, for the eighteen years they were in power the Tories did nothing to fix the roof when the sun was shining.
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Man can never be a woman's equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.
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Mind is everything. Muscle - pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.
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After college, I went into the NBC Page Program. It's one of those great programs that allows kids to get their feet wet in every area of the business.
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I'm the Chris Martin of hip-hop.
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You can't always be in awe of someone's talent, living with them.
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I remember fear and I remember the potential of nuclear war.
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We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.
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All British people have plain names, and that works pretty well over there.
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What have we achieved since the end of the Second World War? We have allowed petty, bourgeois regimes in which everything is average, mediocre.
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It's kinda all about image.
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One of the hardest things to do in acting is to stop thinking about yourself and stop being self-conscious.
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I do respond well to a director, a teacher - someone who doesn't accept mediocrity.
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I don't want to broadcast my personal life because I feel it's off-putting.
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My essential identity is that of a writer.
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I don't think about, 'Oh, I'm finally getting my respect,' because I don't care about this.
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It is not the prisoners who need reformation, it is the prisons.
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It's the uncertainty, the challenge and the willingness to put it all on the line that draws a lot of people to climb mountains. That can also apply to a lot of other challenges in life, whether it's running for office, starting a family, going to grad school or taking all of your cash and assets and starting a business.
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The structures of collective and personal life in Polish shtetls were so exactly defined as to be infinitely replicable — as the structure of a honeycomb is replicable throughout a beehive. Each shtetl was a self-contained world, and each was utterly recognizable as an instance of its kind. This consistency, the patterned predictability of life, was undoubtedly part of the shtetl's strength. But it also meant that the shtetl was a deeply conservative organism, resistant to innovation, individuality, or rebellion. It is hard to think of any analogues to the early shtetl society, for its character was part untouchable and part Brahmin, simultaneously ancient and pioneering, both pragmatically materialistic and sternly religious. It was a peculiar, idiosyncratic form of a rural, populist theocracy.
