110+ Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes On Death, Fantasy And Yiddish

Isaac Bashevis Singer was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He was born in Poland in 1902 and wrote primarily in Yiddish. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978 for his body of work that explored themes of Jewish life and culture. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Isaac Bashevis Singer on death, fantasy, yiddish.

Top 10 Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes

1. Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters.
2. For those who are willing to make an effort, great miracles and wonderful treasures are in store.
3. In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they're the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought.
4. As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together.
5. There will never be any peace in the world as long as we eat animals.
6. Life is God's novel. Let him write it.
7. Night is a time of rigor, but also of mercy. There are truths which one can see only when it’s dark
8. I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.
9. Even in the worm that crawls in the earth there glows a divine spark. When you slaughter a creature, you slaughter God.
10. Whenever I'm in trouble, I pray. And because I'm in trouble all of the time, I pray almost constantly.

Isaac Bashevis Singer Short Quotes

• Sometimes love is stronger than a man's convictions.
• When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself.
• Our knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of nonknowledge.
• What nature delivers to us is never stale. Because what nature creates has eternity in it.
• If you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.
• If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.
• The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique.
• All that God does is for the good.
• A Marxist has never written a good novel.
• Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.

Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes About Yiddish

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

There is a quiet humor in Yiddish and a gratitude for every day of life, every crumb of success, each encounter of love... In a figurative way, Yiddish is the wise and humble language of us all, the idiom of a frightened and hopeful humanity. — 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

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

Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes About Life

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

As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behavior toward creatures, all men were Nazis. — 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

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

In the history of old Jewish literature there was never any basic difference between the poet and the prophet. Our ancient poetry often became law and a way of life. — 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

Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes About Writing

A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind. — 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

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

Children read books, not reviews. They don't give a hoot about critics. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

The waste basket is a writer's best friend. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

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

A story to me must have some surprise...I must have a passion to write the story. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes About Story

I am thankful, of course, for the prize and thankful to God for each story, each idea, each word, each day. — 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. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes About People

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

The more you see what other people do, the more you learn about yourself. — 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

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

Two important things are to have a genuine interest in people and to be kind to them. Kindness, I've discovered, is everything. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

In relation to them (animals), all people are Nazis for the animals, it is an eternal Treblinka. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes About Animals

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

Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together. — 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

When a human kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice. Man prays for mercy, but is unwilling to extend it to others. Why should man then expect mercy from God? It's unfair to expect something that you are not willing to give. — 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

Isaac Bashevis Singer Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

Man prays for mercy, but is unwilling to extend it to others. Why then should man expect mercy from God? It is unfair to expect something that you are not willing to give. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

There is a permanent amnesia planted in us, which just as we keep forgetting our dreams, we sometimes keep on forgetting our reality. — 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

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

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

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

Children have no use for psychology. They detest sociology. 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 allusions. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

The truth is that what the great religions preached, the Yiddish-speaking people of the ghettos practiced day in and day out. They were the people of The Book in the truest sense of the word. They knew of no greater joy than the study of man and human relations, which they called Torah, Talmud, Mussar, Cabala. — 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

The soul never dies and the body is never really alive. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Various philosophers and religious leaders tried to convince their disciples and followers that animals are nothing more than machines without a soul, without feelings. However, anyone who has ever lived with an animal-be it a dog, a bird, or even a mouse-knows that this theory is a brazen lie, invented to justify cruelty. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

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

It is a general rule that when the grain of truth cannot be found, men will swallow great helpings of falsehood. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

We know what a person thinks not when he tells us what he thinks, but by his actions. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

The analysis of character is the highest human entertainment. — 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

The second half of the twentieth century is a complete flop. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

Heaven and earth conspire that everything which has been, be rooted and reduced to dust. Only the dreamers, who dream while awake, call back the shadows of the past and braid nets from the unspun thread. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

I am not ashamed to admit that I belong to those who fantasize that literature is capable of bringing new horizons and new perspectives--philosophical, religious, aesthetical and even social. — 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

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

I know as a writer how valuable a tool is the wastebasket. Perhaps God throws away many experiments before He finds the right expression. Perhaps we are the discards - or we could be the part He keeps. This mystery is what keeps us all going, to see what happens in the next chapter. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet... [at least for your own situation. Blind optimism is just as foolish. The solution is a rigorously balanced, rational outlook.] — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Some of my cronies call me a pessimist and a decadent, but there is always a background of faith behind resignation. — 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

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

In many ways, astrology, numerology and palmistry are corruptions of the occult because they have attempted to make a practice out of something that is essentially imaginative. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

I was brought up to believe in free will. Although I came to doubt all revelation, I can never accept the idea that the Universe is a physical or chemical accident, a result of blind evolution. Even though I learned to recognize the lies, the clichés and the idolatries of the human mind, I still cling to some truths which I think all of us might accept some day. — 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

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

All is foreseen but the choice is given. — 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

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

What nature creates has eternity in it. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

What do they know-all these scholars, all these philosophers, all the leaders of the world - about such as you? They have convinced themselves that man, the worst transgressor of all the species, is the crown of creation. All other creatures were created merely to provide him with food, pelts, to be tormented, exterminated. In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka. — 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

We must believe in free will, we have no choice. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Every body resisted (the slaughterer) in its own fashion, tried to escape and seemed to argue with the Creator to its last breath. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

Those who run around with women don't walk tightropes. They find it hard enough to crawl on the ground. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

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

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

The pessimism of the creative person is not decadence but a mighty passion for the redemption of man. — 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

One has to trust that God knows how to manage the world. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

What's the good of not believing? Today it's your wife you don't believe; tomorrow it's God Himself you won't take stock in. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Shoulders are from God and burdens too. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

What do these children do without storybooks?" Naftali asked. And Reb Zebulun replied: "They have to make do. Storybooks aren't bread. You can live without them." I couldn't live without them." Naftali said. — 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

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

Three characteristics a work of fiction must possess in order to be successful: 1. It must have a precise and suspenseful plot. 2. The author must feel a passionate urge to write it. 3. He must have the conviction, or at least the illusion, that he is the only one who can handle this particular theme. — Isaac Bashevis Singer

Life Lessons by Isaac Bashevis Singer

1. Isaac Bashevis Singer taught us to appreciate the beauty of life, no matter how difficult it may be, and to never give up hope in the face of adversity.
2. He also showed us the importance of living a life of integrity and truth, and to always strive to be the best version of ourselves.
3. Lastly, he taught us to be kind to others and to always seek out the good in people and situations, even when it may be hard to find.