Appelfeld Aharon Quotes & Sayings

It's probable that doctors would tell me indulging Dad's delusions is not advisable, but what the hell. — Giselle Simlett

We have a responsibility in our time, as others have had in theirs, not to be prisoners of history but to shape history, a responsibility to fill the role of path-finder, and to build with others a global network of purpose and law. — Madeleine Albright

I didn't see her die, but I did hear her one and only scream — Aharon Appelfeld

Meaning does not interest me and has almost nothing to do with my decisions or judgments. — Jeff Wall

The most important thing in life is wisdom and not money — Sunday Adelaja

I see myself as a man who is searching for meaning in life. This is rather different from being a staunch believer in something. A believer is someone who senses a consciousness or a direction and believes in it. The one who searches for meaning has not found the direction yet. — Aharon Appelfeld

I think at all social networks, be it Facebook or Twitter or whatever it is, there's an ecosystem that exist there. But there's also an ego system that exists there. — Ashton Kutcher

Can art be completely invented? It's a matter of shaping reality with the help of imagination. — Aharon Appelfeld

When you think about Walt [Disney]'s life, I don't know of anybody on Earth over the last hundred years who has touched as many people as he did. He's touched every nation on Earth. — Pat Williams

I first read Freud's famous case study on hysteria based on his client Ida Bauer when I was in my twenties. It pissed me off so badly it haunted me for 25 years. But I had to wait to be a good enough writer to give Ida her voice back. And I had to go get my own first too. I not only know the case study inside and out, like most women, I lived a version of it. Maybe it's time for us to tell our versions. — Lidia Yuknavitch

It reminded me of a meat grinder. From when I was a kid. Going to school it felt like you were in a meat grinder. It chews you up and pours out this mess that can't function — Gerard Way

A story is not only meaning, it's music as well. — Aharon Appelfeld

A lifelong intimacy with animals has got me out of the common notion that they are automata with a slight infusion of intelligence in their composition. The mind in beast and bird, as in man, is the main thing. — William Henry Hudson

People who lose their parents when young are permanently in love with them. — Aharon Appelfeld

My nights are a nightmare, quite often, but the nightmares are rich. I nourish myself by those nights. — Aharon Appelfeld

Never mind what makes Canada's constitution so special. Probably something to do with hockey, or the inalienable right to poutine, or securing the blessings of Rick Moranis. — Kevin Bleyer

The writer in western civilization has become not a voice of his tribe, but of his individuality. This is a very narrow-minded situation. — Aharon Appelfeld

The Holocaust is a central event in many people's lives, but it also has become a metaphor for our century. There cannot be an end to speaking and writing about it. Besides, in Israel, everyone carries a biography deep inside him. — Aharon Appelfeld

An ordinary life used to look something like this: born into a growing family, you help rear your siblings, have the first of your own half-dozen or even dozen children soon after you're grown, and die before your youngest has left home. — Jill Lepore

One night I heard one of the refugees say, "There are atrocities that one should not speak about."
"Why?" wondered another refugee.
"I can't explain it to you."
"You have to speak about everything, so that everyone will know what they did to us."
"I'm not going to argue with you."
"If we won't be witnesses, who will bear witness?"
"They won't believe us, anyway. — Aharon Appelfeld

To be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously. And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can't accept who God is; a Being that is love. We learn that we are lovable or unlovable from other people ... That is why God tells us so many times to love each other. — Donald Miller

I would also argue ... that we are, by inclination and in terms of our history, we are small 'l' liberals, we Canadians. — Dalton McGuinty

I had a feeling that my generation-and me, also-we were naked. We did not belong to anything. — Aharon Appelfeld

Here is to the nights we felt alive, here is to the tears you knew youd cry, here is to good bye, tomorrow is going to come to soon. — Eve 6

We get off track. Capitalism takes us off track. You get off the "real" and get on the "wheel." The "wheel" becomes the winning and losing, the succeeding and failing, the "I will achieve." All that stuff becomes so preoccupying, particularly if you're born with low self-esteem, or no sense of yourself, or even if you're just born in the consumer culture. It's very powerful. — Eve Ensler

Words are powerless when confronted by catastrophe; they're pitiable, wretched, and easily distorted — Aharon Appelfeld

Over time I learned that objects and animals are true friends. In the forest I was surrounded by trees, bushes, birds, and small animals. I was not afraid of them. I was sure that they would do nothing harmful to me. I became familiar with cows and with horses, and they provided me with a warmth that has remained with me to this very day. Sometimes it seemed to me that what saved me were the animals I encountered along the way, not the human beings. — Aharon Appelfeld

A person has to be by himself a little bit. We weren't born in a flock. Togetherness drives me out of my mind. — Aharon Appelfeld

I am not writing in metaphors. I am writing about catastrophes. — Aharon Appelfeld