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Theodore Bikel Quotes

Powerful Theodore Bikel for Daily Growth

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

Very, Nobility, Films, Stir

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

- Theodore Bikel

Chance, Give, Survive, Yiddish

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

- Theodore Bikel

Need, Exist, Modernity, Mixture

We Jews have a special attachment to the Book. The study of page after page in tomes yellowing with age was obligatory.

- Theodore Bikel

Study, Special, Attachment, Obligatory

I have always striven to raise the voice of hope for a world where hate gives way to respect and oppression to liberation.

- Theodore Bikel

Hope, Voice, Always, Liberation

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

Other, Role, TV, None

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

- Theodore Bikel

Mind, City, Side, Thorn

Right up to the middle of this century all perceptions of the world around us were delivered via the bookshelf or the paper route.

- Theodore Bikel

Middle, Bookshelf, Delivered, Perceptions

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

- Theodore Bikel

Jewish, Firmly, According, Communal

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

Death, Celebrate, Here, Arabs

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

Other, Compassionate, Beings, Commandment

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

- Theodore Bikel

Government, Artist, Compact, Abide

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

Jewish, Other, Mine, Claim

I do not know who there is among us that can claim to know God's purpose and God's intent.

- Theodore Bikel

Purpose, Know, Among, Claim

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

Song, Jewish, Other, Claim

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

- Theodore Bikel

Audience, Breath, Get, Stillness

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

- Theodore Bikel

Caught, Exist, Afford, Suspended

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

- Theodore Bikel

Queen, Last, Cast, Sad Thing

You learn more from the flops than from the hits.

- Theodore Bikel

Learn, More, Hits, Flops

There is no role I cannot play except a midget.

- Theodore Bikel

Play, Role, Cannot, Midget

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

Grateful, Might, Slight, Forgo

After the advent of the written word, the masses who could not - or were not permitted to - read, were given sermons by the few who could.

- Theodore Bikel

Written Word, Given, Read, Permitted

I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars, banjos, fiddles and words.

- Theodore Bikel

Words, Cause, Prefer, Common Cause

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

Beginning, Middle, Away, Right Away

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

- Theodore Bikel

I Am, World, General, Specialist

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

- Theodore Bikel

I Am, Devoted, Passionately, Universalist

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

- Theodore Bikel

I Am, Better, Convinced, Universalist

In my world, history comes down to language and art. No one cares much about what battles were fought, who won them and who lost them - unless there is a painting, a play, a song or a poem that speaks of the event.

- Theodore Bikel

Play, About, Fought, Battles

Must we be put to shame by much smaller and poorer countries, by Ireland, France, Austria or Sweden, who have understood that a nation's support of its arts is a matter of both national pride and cultural survival?

- Theodore Bikel

Shame, Poorer, Smaller, Understood

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

Always, Side, Accompanies, Assume

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