Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Nationality isn't soul.
Politics isn't in my nature.
Life is a tragedy full of joy.
You see in others who you are.
Teach yourself to work in uncertainty.
A man had to learn, it was his nature.
Where to look if you've lost your mind?
In my dreams I ate and I ate my dreams.
All men are Jews, though few men know it.
I fix what's broken - except in the heart.
You can't eat language but it eases thirst.
A man has to construct, invent, his freedom.
When I don't feel hurt, I hope they bury me.
The idea is to get the pencil moving quickly.
Writing is a mode of being. If I write I live.
Charity you can give even when you haven't got.
We're persecuted in the most civilized languages.
The purpose of freedom is to create it for others.
How can we be strangers if we both believe in God?
I sometimes confuse myself with the little I know.
A writer has to surprise himself to be worth reading.
Revision is one of the exquisite pleasures of writing.
First drafts are for learning what your story is about.
If you ever forget you are a Jew a goy will remind you.
One's fantasy goes for a walk and returns with a bride.
... we are all terribly alone no matter what people say.
I work with language. I love the flowers of afterthought.
The whole history of baseball has the quality of mythology.
There are no wrong books. What's wrong is the fear of them.
If you ever forget you're a Jew, a Gentile will remind you.
For misery don't blame God. He gives the food but we cook it.
What suffering has taught me is the uselessness of suffering.
No use fanning up hot coals when you have to walk across them.
The past exudes legend: one can't make pure clay of time's mud.
The short story packs a self in a few pages predicating a lifetime
We have two lives the one we learn with and the life we live after that.
Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go.
The wild begins where you least expect it, one step off your normal course
A writer is a spectator, looking at everything with a highly critical eye.
Those who write about life, reflect about life. you see in others who you are.
We didn't starve but nobody ate chicken unless we were sick or the chicken was.
If your train's on the wrong track every station you come to is the wrong station.
Tomorrow the world is not the same as today, though God listens with the same ear.
I don't think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own.
We can't all be friends and relatives as the world is; most of us have to be strangers.
If you don't hear His voice so let Him hear yours. When prayers go up blessings descend.
(Clothes) cannot change a man's nature. He's either kind or he isn't, with or without clothes.
We have in my country (Russia) a quotation: "It is impossible to make out of apology a fur coat.
It was all those biographies in me yelling, 'We want out. We want to tell you what we've done to you.'
You could not pity anything if you weren't a man; pity was a surprise to God. It was not his invention.