T Bikel Quotes & Sayings

No movement can afford to be caught in a time warp and exist in a state of suspended animation. — Theodore Bikel

Audiences are audiences. — Theodore Bikel

It's a sad thing to contemplate, but I'm the last surviving cast member of 'The African Queen.' — Theodore Bikel

No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language. — Theodore Bikel

There is no role I cannot play except a midget. — Theodore Bikel

By showing hunger, deprivation, starvation and brutality, as well as endurance and nobility, documentaries inform, prod our memories, even stir us to action. Such films do battle for our very soul. — Theodore Bikel

As an artist I have an even more abiding interest in the compact between the Arts and Government. — Theodore Bikel

I am determined to give the Yiddish language a fighting chance to survive. — Theodore Bikel

You can't expect the entire world to come to New York to see you. You have to travel to them. — Theodore Bikel

On the stage you're there, it's live. There's a beginning, a middle, an end. When something is funny you hear it right away. — Theodore Bikel

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. By what conduit do we know what we know? — Theodore Bikel

I glory in the fact that a human being has multiple talents and exercises them all with a degree of integrity and artistic proficiency. That's what I do. — Theodore Bikel

All too often arrogance accompanies strength, and we must never assume that justice is on the side of the strong. The use of power must always be accompanied by moral choice. — Theodore Bikel

I know for certain of only one commandment, one obligation, that God imposes upon us, and that is to be compassionate toward other human beings. — Theodore Bikel

For I firmly believe that Jewish life, indeed any communal life, can only be organized according to democratic principles. — Theodore Bikel

You learn more from the flops than from the hits. — Theodore Bikel

Time flowed for Bela in the opposite direction. The day after yesterday, she sometimes said. Pronounced slightly differently, Bela's name, the name of a flower, was itself the word for a span of time, a portion of the day. Shakal bela meant morning; bikel bela, afternoon. Ratrir bela was night. Bela's yesterday was a receptacle for anything her mind stored. Any experience or impression that had come before. Her memory was brief, its contents limited. Lacking chronology, randomly rearranged. — Jhumpa Lahiri

But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel. — Theodore Bikel

An actor is supposed to emulate life. Instead, alas, many are imitating other actors. You don't fashion your knowledge of theatre or your approach to a role on the basis of what other actors have done. This kind of thinking is a great danger, especially in dealing with TV producers who frequently say things like, 'This is a Sean Connery type.' — Theodore Bikel

I am a Zionist, an ardent supporter of Israel, its defender when I deem Israel to be right and its critic when I deem it to be wrong. — Theodore Bikel

'Retiring' - within that word is 'tiring,' and I'm not tired. I don't believe in retirement, really. — Theodore Bikel

No doubt, unity is something to be desired, to be striven for, but it cannot be willed by mere declarations. — Theodore Bikel

What moves me is neither ethnocentric pride nor sectarian arrogance. I make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures. But it is mine. — Theodore Bikel

I tried for a while to be an agricultural worker and was hopelessly bored. I would stand around in heaps of manure and sing about the beauty of the work I wasn't doing. — Theodore Bikel

I am first, and foremost, an actor. That's what I am. To me, a song is a mini-drama. My musical ability informs the actor as well because it gives me a sense of timing that non-musicians don't have. So, one hand washes the other. — Theodore Bikel

If I have one vanity wish, it would be to direct. It's the only thing I haven't done yet that I would like to. — Theodore Bikel

I don't speak out because I am an actor nor will I keep silent because I am an actor. I respect my profession, but it endows me with no special privileges; but it also does not limit me or muzzle me. I am a person and a citizen with the attendant responsibilities of voice and vote. — Theodore Bikel

But, when I toil in the field of Jewish culture which I frequently do, I am indeed a Jewish artist. — Theodore Bikel

I liked the name Frederick Bickel and I wish now I had left it as it was. After all, Theodore Bikel, whose name was similar though spelled differently, didn't change his, and he did all right. — Fredric March

In my mind the city of Ariel is a thorn in Israel's side and a serious obstacle to peace. — Theodore Bikel

I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family. — Theodore Bikel

Although I am deeply grateful to a great many people, I forgo the temptation of naming them for fear that I might slight any by omission. — Theodore Bikel

You don't really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition. — Theodore Bikel

I am not a specialist but a general practitioner in the world of the arts. — Theodore Bikel

I am filled with awe that filmmakers have the capacity to stir us and give us back a sense of wonder. — Theodore Bikel

John Huston was the kind of director that totally left you alone. Not every actor always does it right, every time, but most of the time he was re-directing someone. He was making tight adjustments, and not even in terms of interpretation because he knew that by the time that the character had been filmed ... well, he got it right when he cast you. — Theodore Bikel

I make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures or that the Jewish song is better than the song of my neighbor. — Theodore Bikel

Throughout my life I have cared as deeply about the songs of all peoples as I have about the rights of all peoples. — Theodore Bikel

I refuse to do shows that are narrowly constructed, that appeal to only one sentiment. I do a lot of Jewish material in front of non-Jews and a lot of non-Jewish material in front of Jews on the simple theory that the non-Jews are entitled to a glimpse of a Jewish world and the Jews are entitled to a glimpse of the world. — Theodore Bikel

Despite a large body of work in films, TV, theatre and concerts, I am viewed by many as a Jewish artist. I do not resent the label, except for the fact that I disapprove of labels in general. — Theodore Bikel

I do prefer the stage. It's really the granddaddy of them all. — Theodore Bikel

I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew. — Theodore Bikel

When something is moving you get that intake of breath and that stillness from the audience. — Theodore Bikel

Every actor wants to direct. — Theodore Bikel

Having come to live in this age is as though one were to have entered another country. Learn its language or risk being left out. — Theodore Bikel

You always draw on your experiences with live audiences to know how to do comedy on films. You're working for a laugh that may or may not come six months later, but you're working in a vacuum at the time you are doing it. — Theodore Bikel

You cannot please all of the people all of the time, and that is truer in the arts than anywhere else. — Theodore Bikel

We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task. — Theodore Bikel