Isaac Bashevis Singer Quotes

"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. It is inconsistent. I can never accept inconsistency or injustice. Even if it comes from God. 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."

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

Life is God's novel. Let him write it.

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.

The wastepaper basket is the writer’s best friend.

When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself

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

Sometimes love is stronger than a man's convictions.

We must believe in free will. We have no choice.

"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."

If you keep on saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.

I don't study literature, I read it for enjoyment

Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.

Every human character appears only once in the history of human beings. And so does every event of love.

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.