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1 " Where to look if you've lost your mind? "
― Bernard Malamud , The Fixer
2 " They say God appeared in history and used it for his purposes, but if that was so he had no pity for men. "
3 " I am somewhat of a meliorist. That is to say, I act as an optimist because I find I cannot act at all, as a pessimist. One often feels helpless in the face of the confusion of these times, such a mass of apparently uncontrollable events and experiences to live through, attempt to understand, and if at all possible, give order to; but one must not withdraw from the task if he has some small things to offer - he does so at the risk of diminishing his humanity. "
4 " Charity you can give even when you haven't got. "
5 " I fix what's broken - except in the heart. "
6 " There are no wrong books. What's wrong is the fear of them. "
7 " You could not pity anything if you weren't a man; pity was a surprise to God. It was not his invention. "
8 " Would you say you have a "philosophy" Of your own? If so what is it?''If I have it's all skin and bones...If I have any philosophy...it's that life could be better than it is. "
9 " We're persecuted in the most civilized languages. "
10 " In my dreams I ate and I ate my dreams. "
11 " 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. "
12 " Who invented my life? "
13 " 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. "
14 " 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. "
15 " 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. "
16 " 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. "
17 " Since I can’t be a professional on account of lack of education I wouldn’t mind being wealthy. "
18 " Kiev, you understand, is a medieval city full of wild superstition and mysticism. It has always been the heart of Russian reaction. The Black Hundreds, may they sink into their graves, have aroused against you the most ignorant and brutal of the masses. They are deathly afraid of Jews and at the same time frighten them to death. This reveals to you something about the human condition. Rich or poor, those of our brethren who can run out of here are running. Some who can’t are already mourning. "
19 " noodles. "
20 " There are no wrong books. What’s wrong is the fear of them.” Shmuel "
