Quotes from Davita's Harp

Chaim Potok ·  371 pages

Rating: (5K votes)


“…everything has a past. Everything – a person, an object, a word, everything. If you don’t know the past, you can’t understand the present and plan properly for the future.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from Davita's Harp


“In our time... a man whose enemies are faceless bureaucrats almost never wins. It is our equivalent to the anger of the gods in ancient times. But those gods you must understand were far more imaginative than our tiny bureaucrats. They spoke from mountaintops not from tiny airless offices. They rode clouds. They were possessed of passion. They had voices and names. Six thousand years of civilization have brought us to this.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from Davita's Harp


“Did he really believe God wrote stories that were open to one explanation only? A story that knew but one explanation could hardly be interesting and was certainly not worth the trouble of remembering.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from Davita's Harp


“Good-bye, Davita. Be discontented with the world. But be respectful at the same time.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from Davita's Harp


“I like his optimism,' I said. 'I like the way when he and some other rabbis saw a jackal in the ruins of Jerusalem, and the others began to cry, he laughed and said that just as the prophecy of the destruction of the temple was fulfilled, so the prophecy of the rebuilding would also be fulfilled. I like that.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from Davita's Harp



About the author

Chaim Potok
Born place: in Buffalo, New York, The United States
Born date February 17, 1929
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Then little Gerda said the Lord's Prayer; the cold was so intense that she could see her own breath; it came out of her mouth like smoke. Her breath became thicker and thicker, and took the form of little angels who grew larger and larger as soon as they touched the ground. All had helmets on their heads, and lances and shields in their hands; their numbers increased, and when Gerda had finished her prayer a whole legion stood around her. They trust their lances against the horrible snow-flakes, so that the latter flew into a hundred pieces; and little Gerda went forward safely and cheerfully. The angels stroked her hands and feet, so that she felt the cold less, and she hastened on to the Snow Queen's castle.”
― Hans Christian Andersen, quote from The Snow Queen


“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Olive.”

“Olive who?”

“Olive You.”

“I think I just threw up some fruit and yogurt in my mouth.” His eyes widen as he pretends to be offended and I smile. “Where are my manners? Come on in. I’ve been waiting for you all my life, Olive You.”

“You’re not just saying that ‘cause I said it, are you?”

“Nope. I mean it. Honestly and truly. Olive You with all my mushy red pimiento heart.”
― Cassia Leo, quote from Relentless


“Walking along the avenues, we had one of the so-called intellectual conversations, which consist a great deal in quoting names of books and authors.”
― Henryk Sienkiewicz, quote from Without Dogma


“Más valía morir en la rebelíon que vivir en la esclavitud”
― Isabel Allende, quote from Forest of the Pygmies


“Despite my best efforts, I'm not quite perfect. Let's just say I'm like one of those Hopi blankets where they leave a tiny flaw so as to not affront the Lord.”
― Jen Lancaster, quote from Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office


Interesting books

Truthwitch
(25.5K)
Truthwitch
by Susan Dennard
Life is Elsewhere
(12K)
Life is Elsewhere
by Milan Kundera
High-Rise
(18.2K)
High-Rise
by J.G. Ballard
Torrent
(8.1K)
Torrent
by Lisa Tawn Bergren
The Nightingale and the Rose
(5.5K)
The Nightingale and...
by Oscar Wilde
The Half Brother
(2.4K)
The Half Brother
by Lars Saabye Christensen

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.