Sholem Quotes & Sayings

The sword conquered for a while, but the spirit conquers for ever! — Sholem Asch

Youth has the resilience to absorb disaster and weave it into the pattern of its life, no mater how anguishing the thorn that penetrates its flesh. — Sholem Asch

I love the place; the magnificent books; I require books as I require air. — Sholem Asch

You see how it is, my dear friends. There's no pleasing everyone. It's hopeless to even try, and the more you play the peacemaker, the less peaceful things become. — Sholem Aleichem

The worm in the radish doesn't think there is anything sweeter. — Sholem Aleichem

Every dawn renews the Beginning, and to behold the earth struggling out of the formless void, out of the night, is to witness the act of creation. — Sholem Asch

When the heart is full it runs out of the eyes. — Sholem Aleichem

The lash may force men to physical labor, it cannot force them to spiritual creativity. — Sholem Asch

Jesus Christ is the outstanding personality of our time. Every act and word of Jesus has value for us. He became the light of the world. Why shouldn't I, a Jew, be proud of that? — Sholem Asch

Personality is the gland of creativity. — Sholem Asch

I mention her name and the old pain returns. Forget her, you say? How can you forget a living human being? — Sholem Aleichem

There is nothing in the world, I tell you, so maddening as a person who doesn't answer when you abuse him. You shout and you scold, you are ready to burst a gut, and he stands there and smiles ... — Sholem Aleichem

A bachelor is a man who comes to work each morning from a different direction. — Sholem Aleichem

Now, more than any time previous in human history, we must arm ourselves with an ethical code so that each of us will be aware that he is protecting the moral merchandise absent of which life is not worth living. — Sholem Asch

The best security for old age: respect your children. — Sholem Asch

This is an ugly and mean world, and only to spite it we mustn't weep. If you want to know, this is the constant source of my good spirit, of my humor. Not to cry, out of spite, only to laugh out of spite, only to laugh. — Sholem Aleichem

Without a love of humankind there is no love of God. — Sholem Asch

God does not seek to destroy the evil nations, but their evil. — Sholem Asch

The heathen spirit is wingless. It cannot lift itself to heights from which the totality of being is visible, and it therefore loses itself in details. — Sholem Asch

Through our soul is our contact with heaven. — Sholem Asch

An illness is like a journey into a far country; it sifts all one's experience and removes it to a point so remote that it appears like a vision. — Sholem Asch

Jesus Christ is to me the outstanding personality of all time, all history, both as Son of God and as Son of Man. Everything he ever said or did has value for us today and that is something you can say of no other man, dead or alive. There is no easy middle ground to stroll upon. You either accept Jesus or reject him. — Sholem Asch

Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence. — Sholem Asch

Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor. — Sholem Aleichem

Humankind's ladder to God is a ladder of deeds. — Sholem Asch

Nothing begets friendship so readily as trouble. — Sholem Aleichem

Sholem [a painter] was saying that freedom, for him, is having the technical facility to be able to execute whatever he wants, just whatever image he has in his mind. But that's not freedom! That's control, or power. Whereas I think Margaux understands freedom to be the freedom to take risks, the freedom to do something bad or appear foolish. To not recognize that difference is a pretty big thing. [ ... ]
"It's like with improv," Misha said. "True improv is about surprising yourself
but most people won't improvise truthfully. They're afraid. What they do is pull from their bag of tricks. They take what they already know how to do and apply it to the present situation. But that's cheating! And cheating's bad for an artist. It's bad in life
but it's really bad in art." -p.20-1, How Should A Person Be — Sheila Heti

I never turn down a drink. Among friend's it's always appropriate. A man is only a man as they say but brandy is still brandy. You'll find that in the Talmud too. — Sholem Aleichem

If my only tool is a hammer, then every problem is a nail. — Sholem Asch

Az men krigt zikh miten rov, muz men sholem zein miten shainker," Avi had said when he first put the rifle in Jacob's hands. The old Yiddish proverb could be roughly translated as, "If you're at odds with your rabbi, make peace with your bartender." His uncle offered no explanation, but as Jacob had chewed on its meaning, he had concluded that Avi meant something like, "Always be prepared" or "Have a plan B." The problem was, Jacob didn't want a plan B. He didn't want life to change. He wanted things to be the way they had always been. — Joel C. Rosenberg

No matter how bad things get, you've got to go on living, even if it kills you. — Sholem Aleichem

And books -- she swallows like dumplings. — Sholem Aleichem

Writing comes more easily if you have something to say. — Sholem Asch