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41 " In my dreams I ate and I ate my dreams. "
― Bernard Malamud , The Fixer
42 " A meshummed gives up one God for another. I don't want either. We live in a world where the clock ticks fast while he's on his timeless mountain staring in space. He doesn't see us and he doesn't care. Today I want my piece of bread, not in Paradise. "
43 " But she had recently come to think that in such unhappy times--when the odds were so high against personal happiness--to find love was miraculous, and to fulfill it as best two people could was what really mattered. "
― Bernard Malamud , The Assistant
44 " She is not for you. She is a wild one--wild, without shame. This is not a bride for a rabbi". "
― Bernard Malamud , The Magic Barrel
45 " Who invented my life? "
46 " will you please explain how you can cry for a dead dog yet belong to a society of fanatics that urges death on human beings who happen to be Jews? Explain to me the logic of it. "
47 " So sleep now, without fear for your life, and if you should ever manage to get out of prison, keep in mind that the purpose of freedom is to create it for others. "
48 " His blood changed to falling snow. "
― Bernard Malamud , The Natural
49 " Life, despite their frantic yoohooings, had passed them by. "
― Bernard Malamud , The Complete Stories
50 " Where a boy runs he never forgets. "
51 " She had recently come to think that in such unhappy times-when the odds were so high against personal happiness-to find love was miraculous, and to fulfill it as best as two people could was what really mattered. Was it more important to insist a man's religious beliefs be exactly hers, or that the two of them have in common ideals, a desire to keep love in their lives, and to preserve in every possible way what was best in themselves? The less difference among people, the better; thus she settled it for herself yet was dissatisfied for those for whom she hadn't settled it, "
52 " Wonderboy flashed in the sun. It caught the sphere where it was biggest. A noise like a twenty-one gun salute cracked the sky. There was a straining, ripping sound and a few drops of rain spattered to the ground. The ball screamed toward the pitcher and seemed suddenly to dive down at his feet. He grabbed it to throw to first and realized to his horror that he held only the cover. The rest of it, unraveling cotton thread as it rode, was headed into the outfield. "
53 " Being born a Jew meant being vulnerable to history, including its worst errors. Accident and history had involved Yakov Bok as he had never dreamed he could be involved. The involvement was, in a way of speaking, impersonal, but the effect, his misery and suffering, were not. The suffering was personal, painful, and possibly endless. "
54 " Keep in mind, Yakov Shepsovitch, that if your life is without value, so is mine. If the law does not protect you, it will not, in the end, protect me. Therefore I dare not fail you, and that is what causes me anxiety—that I must not fail you. "
55 " There comes a time in a (wo)man's life when to get where (s)he has to -- if there are no doors or windows -- he walks through a wall. "
― Bernard Malamud
56 " Wonderboy flashed in the sun. It caught the sphere it was biggest. A noise like a twenty-one gun salute cracked the sky. There was a straining, ripping sound and a few drops of rain spattered to the ground somebody then shouted it was raining cats and dogs. By the time of Roy got in from second he was wading in water ankle deep. "
57 " Leo hurried up to bed and hid under the covers. Under the covers he thought his life through. Although he soon fell asleep he could not sleep her out of his mind. He woke, beating his breast. Though he prayed to be rid of her, his prayers went unanswered. Through days of torment he endlessly struggled not to love her; fearing success, he escaped it. He then concluded to convert her to goodness, himself to God. The idea alternately nauseated and exalted him. "
58 " Since I can’t be a professional on account of lack of education I wouldn’t mind being wealthy. "
59 " «Ricordo che la sera che ci siamo conosciuti lei disse che qui sperava di fare un uso migliore della sua vita. C’è riuscito?»«È quello che si dovrebbe sempre fare».«Mi dica, che cosa vuole dalla vita?»«Ordine, valore, soddisfazione, amore», disse Levin.«L’amore all’ultimo posto?»«L’amore in ogni momento». "
― Bernard Malamud , A New Life
60 " I’m an American, I’m a Jew, and I write for all men. "