Halevi Quotes & Sayings

On a collective level, the mind-set "We are right and they are wrong" is particularly deeply entrenched in those parts of the world where conflict between two nations, races, tribes, religions, or ideologies is long-standing, extreme, and endemic. Both sides of the conflict are equally identified with their own perspective, their own "story," that is to say, identified with thought. Both are equally incapable of seeing that another perspective, another story, may exist and also be valid. Israeli writer Y. Halevi speaks of the possibility of "accommodating a competing narrative,"3 but in many parts of the world, people are not yet able or willing to do that. Both sides believe themselves to be in possession of the truth. Both regard themselves as victims and the "other" as evil, and because they have conceptualized and thereby dehumanized the other as the enemy, they can kill and inflict all kinds of violence on the other, even on children, without feeling their humanity and suffering. — Eckhart Tolle

Everyone is searching for something. Some people pursue security, others pleasure or power. Yet others look for dreams, or they know not what. There are, however, those who know what they seek but cannot find it in the natural world. For these searchers many clues have been laid out by those who have gone before. The traces are everywhere, although only those with eyes to see or ears to hear perceive them. When the significance of these signs is seriously acted upon, Providence opens a door out of the natural into the supernatural to reveal a ladder from the transient to the Eternal. He who dares the ascent enters the Way of Kabbalah. — Z'ev Ben Shimon Halevi

But theological change happens though selective quoting. Every religious person does it: You quote those verses that resonate with your own religious insights and ignore or reinterpret those that undermine your certainties. Selective quoting isn't just legitimate, but essential: Religions evolve through shifts in selective quoting. — Yossi Klein Halevi

Lord, where shall I find you? Your place is lofty and secret. And where shall I not find you? The whole earth is full of your glory! You are found in our innermost heart, yet you fixed earth's boundaries. You are a strong tower for those who are near and the trust of those who go far. I have sought to come near you; I have called to you with all my heart; and when I went out towards you, I found you coming towards me. — Judah Halevi

People ask me how I make music. I tell them I just step into it. It's like stepping into a river and joining the flow. Every moment in the river has its song. — Michael Jackson

My heart in the East
But the rest of me far in the West
How can I savor this life, even taste what I eat?
How, in the bonds of the Moor,
Zion chained to the Cross,
Can I do what I've vowed to and must?
Gladly I'd leave
All the best of grand Spain
For one glimpse of the ruined Shrine's dust. — Yehuda HaLevi

I can't remember how long it's been since we've seen such a fab show! This was drama-tastic! Better than Romeo and Juliet. Better than The Sound of Music, South Park, Trueblood, Dexter, My Little Pony, and Shrek put together! — Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

In Udi's vocabulary, Jewish was equated with the ills of exile: rootless parasitic, superstitious. Yet here, in the Western Wall's solitary dignity, was beauty. In this world of stone, he felt softness; in this quarry of memory, peace. — Yossi Klein Halevi

Battle with unconditioned breath the unconditioned air. Shun electric wire. Communicate slowly. Live a three-dimensional life; stay away from screens. — Wendell Berry

the land of Israel would unite the people of Israel, not, God forbid, divide them. — Yossi Klein Halevi

A lover always thinks of his mistress first and himself second; with a husband it runs the other way. — Honore De Balzac

But how could Yoel, of all people, not realize that Gush Emunim, with its vision of unrestrained power and occupation, was repeating the very sin of arrogance that had led to Yom Kippur? — Yossi Klein Halevi

My pen is my harp and my lyre; my library is my garden and my orchard. — Judah Halevi

Sometimes it is easier when you can't see your hands or your arms. Sometimes it's easier when you don't try. Because it's too hard to talk when you are trying . too hard to say what you feel inside. — Brian James

I tried to bring up boyfriends and sex. Her great dark eyes surveyed me with emptiness and a kind of chagrin that reached back generations and generations in her blood from not having done what was crying to be done
whatever it was, and everybody knows what it was. — Jack Kerouac

You don't remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened. — John Green

If you are missing out on the natural joy and wisdom of life, it is because you have been taught to ignore it ... Reconnecting with nature consists of bringing into your consciousness a sensory way of thinking and relating with which you are born — Michael J. Cohen

Zion, thou art doubtless anxious for news of thy captives; they ask after thee, they who are the remainder of thy flock. — Judah Halevi

One grey hair appeared on my head
I plucked it out with my hand.
It answered me: You have prevailed against me alone -
What will you do when my army comes after me? — Yehuda HaLevi

I just can't seem to make myself care about what I look like when I am working out. — Julie Bowen

...in Israel no trauma was ever really forgotten, only displaced by new trauma so that the country's emotional life resembled one of its archaeological sites, an accumulation of disrupted layers. — Yossi Klein Halevi

Providence creates an unfolding situation that is exactly what the person needs, although not always what he may think he wants or desires. This is called luck by those who are unaware of the workings of higher Worlds. Providence also creates very difficult circumstances to reveal or dissolve a fixed situation ... This is called bad luck or later, A Blessing in Disguise. — Z'ev Ben Shimon Halevi