Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes & Sayings

Writing has power, but its power has no vector. Writers can stir the mind, but they can't direct it. Time changes things, God changes things, the dictators change things, but writers can't change anything. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

I believe in free will. I have no choice. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Kindness, I've discovered, is everything in life. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

The genuine writer cannot ignore the fact that the family is losing its spiritual foundation. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

I don't invent characters because the Almightly has already invented millions ... Just like experts at fingerprints do not create fingerprints but learn how to read them. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

You must believe in free will; there is no choice. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Our knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of nonknowledge. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Literature has neglected the old and their emotions. The novelists never told us that in love, as in other matters, the young are just beginners and that the art of loving matures with age and experience. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Night is a time of rigor, but also of mercy. There are truths which one can see only when it's dark — Isaac Bashevis Singer

In God's mill even chaff becomes flour. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

A rock was sticking out of the water, jagged and pointed, covered with moss
a remnant of the Ice Age. It had withstood the rains, the snows, the frost, the heat. It was afraid of no one. It did not need redemption, it had already been redeemed. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The Rabbi thought he saw an expression of perplexity in the golem's eyes. It seemed to the Rabbi that his eyes were asking, 'Who am I? Why am I here? What is the secret of my being? Rabbi Leib often saw the same bewilderment in the eyes of newborn children and even in the eyes of animals. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

What a strange power there is in clothing. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

But my gloom did not lessen. I knew that I'd had a bad dream, and I stood in the dark trying to recollect it. The second I closed my eyes, I was with the dead. They did things words cannot express. They spoke madness. ("Hanka") — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Along with the atom, the personality of the Homo Sapiens has been splitting ... — Isaac Bashevis Singer

What concrete steps can I take now?" I asked the voice, and it replied: "Go to a house of prayer and pray."
"Without faith?" I countered, and the voice said: "You have more faith than you know. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

From borrowing one gets poorer and from work one gets richer. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Misfortune draws people to religion and mysticism — Isaac Bashevis Singer

No doubt the world is entirely an imaginary world, but it is only once removed from the true world. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Of course I believe in free will. Do we have a choice? — Isaac Bashevis Singer

When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself — Isaac Bashevis Singer

A soldier who serves an emperor has to have a uniform, and this also applies to a soldier who serves the Almighty. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

There will never be any peace in the world as long as we eat animals. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Sometimes love is stronger than a man's convictions. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

It is a fact that the classics of Yiddish literature are also the classics of the modern Hebrew literature. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Here are circumstances when you are torn away like a leaf from a tree and no power can attach you again.
The wind carries you from your roots. There's a name for it in Hebrew, but I've forgotten."
"Na-v'nad - a fugitive and a wanderer."
"That's it. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Literature is the memory of humanity. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

They still believe in God, the family, angels, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other obsolete stuff. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

In the half darkness I winked to my other self, my mad dictator, and congratulated him on his droll victory. I closed my eyes and felt the warmth flowing from Shosha's head to my face. What did I have to lose? Nothing more than what everyone loses anyway. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

Every human character appears only once in the history of human beings. And so does every event of love. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

We all play chess with Fate as partner. He makes a move, we make a move. He tries to checkmate us in three moves, we try to prevent it. We know we can't win, but we're driven to give him a good fight. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The New England conscience doesn't keep you from doing what you shouldn't - it just keeps you from enjoying it. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

When the ship approached the equator, I stopped going out on deck in the daytime. The sun burned like a flame. The days had shortened and night came swiftly. One moment it was light, the next it was dark. The sun did not set but fell into the water like a meteor. Late in the evening, when I went out briefly, a hot wind slapped my face. From the ocean came a roar of passions that seemed to have broken through all barriers:'We mus procreate and multiply! We must exhaust all the powers of lust!' The waves glowed like lava, and I imagined I could see multitudes of living beings - algae, whales, sea monsters - reveling in an orgy, from the surface to the bottom of the sea. Immortality was the law here. The whole planet raged with animation. At times, I heard my name in the clamor: the spirit of the abyss calling me to join them in their nocturnal dance. ("Hanka") — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The characters have their own lives and their own logic, and you have to act accordingly. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Whenever I'm in trouble, I pray. And because I'm in trouble all of the time, I pray almost constantly. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

If Moses had been paid newspaper rates for the Ten Commandments, he might have written the Two Thousand Commandments. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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 whole world, all human life, is one long story. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The ghetto was not only a place of refuge for a persecuted minority but a great experiment in peace, in self-discipline and in humanism. As such it still exists and refuses to give up in spite of all the brutality that surrounds it. I was brought up among those people. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

I don't study literature, I read it for enjoyment — Isaac Bashevis Singer

We have to believe in free-will. We've got no choice. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

All is foreseen but the choice is given. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Where do the wheels of history lead? How can you be so sure that the wheels of history won't get bogged down in blood and marrow again? — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The Jewish people have been in exile for 2,000 years; they have lived in hundreds of countries, spoken hundreds of languages and still they kept their old language, Hebrew. They kept their Aramaic, later their Yiddish; they kept their books; they kept their faith. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

There is great treasure there behind our skull and this is true about all of us. This little treasure has great, great powers, and I would say we only have learnt a very, very small part of what it can do. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

While the poet entertains he continues to search for eternal truths, for the essence of being. In his own fashion he tries to solve the riddle of time and change, to find an answer to suffering, to reveal love in the very abyss of cruelty and injustice. Strange as these words may sound I often play with the idea that when all the social theories collapse and wars and revolutions leave humanity in utter gloom, the poet
whom Plato banned from his Republic
may rise up to save us all. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behaviour towards creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

Children don t read to find their identity to free themselves from guilt to quench the thirst for rebellion or to get rid of alienation. They have no use for psychology ... 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 illusions. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

How can we speak of right and justice if we take an innocent creature and shed its blood? How can we pray to God for mercy if we ourselves have no mercy? Nobel laureate in literature. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

While facts never become obsolete or stale, commentaries always do. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Man is a disgusting thing. If you beat him he starts to scream, but if it is the other one who is beaten, then he constructs a theory. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

For those who are willing to make an effort, great miracles and wonderful treasures are in store. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

What happened was no accident. Everything was preordained. True, the will was free, but heaven also made its ordinances. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

In our time, when the literature for adults is deteriorating, good books for children are the only hope, the only refuge. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

If one knew the truth how could there be freedom? If hell and paradise were in the middle of the marketplace, everyone would be a saint. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The Yiddish mentality is not haughty. It does not take victory for granted. It does not demand and command but it muddles through, sneaks by, smuggles itself amidst the powers of destruction, knowing somewhere that God's plan for Creation is still at the very beginning. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

To be a vegetarian is to disagree - to disagree with the course of things today ... starvation, cruelty - we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it's a strong one. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The sexual organs are the most sensitive organs of the human being. They are not diplomats. They tell the truth. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

I get up every morning with a desire to do some creative work. This desire is made of the same stuff as the sexual desire, the desire to make money, or any other desire. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Yes, I lay in my grave. But if you lie in a grave long enough, you get accustomed to it and you don't want to part from it. He had given me a pill of cyanide, He and his wife and their son also carried such pills. We all lived with death, and I want you to know that one can fall in love with death. Whoever has loved death cannot love anything else any more. When the liberation came and they told me to leave, I didn't want to go. I clung to the threshold like an ox being dragged to the slaughter. ("Hanka") — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

His eyes reflected a softness I had already forgotten in America. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

A freelance writer is paid per word, per piece, perhaps. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

To me the Yiddish language and the conduct of those who spoke it are identical. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

If we have people with the power to tell a story, there will always be readers. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

One thing I found out then was that pity is a form of love and, actually, its highest expression.
A Tale of Two Sisters — Isaac Bashevis Singer

We write not only for children but also for their parents. They, too, are serious children. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

No technological achievements can mitigate the disappointment of modern man, his loneliness, his feeling of inferiority, and his fear of war, revolution and terror. Not only has our generation lost faith in Providence but also in man himself, in his institutions and often in those who are nearest to him. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is - full of surprises. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. The chasm is never completely bridged. We all have the conviction, perhaps illusory, that we have much more to say than appears on the paper. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

There are 500 reasons I write for children ... Children read books, not reviews. They don't give a hoot about the critics ... They don't read to free themselves of guilt, to quench their thirst for rebellion, or to get rid of alienation. They still believe in God, the family, angels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clarity, punctuation, and other such obsolete stuff ... They don't expect their beloved writer to redeem humanity. Young as they are, they know that it is not in his power. Only the adults have such childish illusions. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The storyteller and poet of our time, as in any other time, must be an entertainer of the spirit in the full sense of the word, not just a preacher of social or political ideals. There is no paradise for bored readers and no excuse for tedious literature that does not intrigue the reader, uplift him, give him the joy and the escape that true art always grants. — Isaac Bashevis Singer