“It's always easier to learn something than to use what you've learned. . . . You're alone when you're learning. But you always use it on other people. It's different when there are other people involved.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“A choice tells the world what is most important to a human being. When a man has a choice to make he chooses what is most important to him, and that choice tells the world what kind of a man he is.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“It is strange how ideas can float about and be ignored until they are put into a book. A book can be a weapon...”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“I held it close to my face and smelled the ink. I have always loved the smell of ink in a new book.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“When the alternative is possible disaster, a man must gamble.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“One derives great moral strength from a cup of coffee," I said.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“You don't want to make mistakes with people. Sometimes when you make a mistake you lose a human soul.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“It's always easier to learn something than to use what you've learned.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“Williamsburg was stifling, narcotized by the heat.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“We become like dead branches and last year's leaves and what the hell good are we for ourselves and the world in a mental ghetto.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“A man must sometimes be forced to make choices, for it is only by his choices that we know what a man truly is.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“They become angry and ugly and they fight anything that's a threat to them. We have to learn how to fight back without hurting them too much.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“It's only a book. But what it means to write a book.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“He's not asking me to make a choice. He's telling me to take a stand. I'm either with him or against him. All or nothing. I'm disgusted with the whole business. I don't want smicha if the price I have to pay for it is to stop thinking.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“A man must be forced to choose. It is only when you are forced to choose that you know what is important to you.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“Take care of your father," he said. "There aren't many people like him around anymore.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“If everybody who had brains and doubts left Orthodoxy, we would be in a great deal of trouble.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“Verbal fraud is worse than monetary fraud.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“Perhaps. But it is childish to think of what might have been.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“How do I convince him that the way we study Talmud is not a threat?'
'But it is a threat, Reuven. I just told you it is a threat. In the hands of those who do not love the tradition it is a dangerous weapon.'
'Everything is dangerous in the wrong hands. How do I convince him that we're not a threat?”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“It's my world, best friend. And I haven't seen anything outside that's better.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“There are times when those who fear God make themselves very unpleasant as human beings.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“We will have many fights. But they will be for the sake of Torah.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“There’s a rabbi in the Talmud who even says there’s no atonement for lashon hara.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
“Gossip, gossip, gossip. Rumors. Tongues. ‘Life and death are in the power of the tongue,’ ” he quoted in Hebrew.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Promise
Chaim Potok
Born place: in Buffalo, New York, The United States
Born date February 17, 1929
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“So, for example, if I had been raised in a critical or demanding environment, it might have been easier for me, relatively speaking, to find refuge in worse-than or need-to-be-seen-as justifications. Those who were raised in affluent or sanctimonious environments, on the other hand, may naturally gravitate to better-than and I-deserve justifications, and so on. Need-to-be-seen-as boxes might easily arise in such circumstances as well. “But the key point, and the point that is the same for all of us, is that we all grab for justification, however we can get it. Because grabbing for justification is something we do, we can undo it. Whether we find justification in how we are worse or in how we are better, we can each find our way to a place where we have no need for justification at all. We can find our way to peace—deep, lasting, authentic peace—even when war is breaking out around us.”
― The Arbinger Institute, quote from The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict
“Verstehst du, im Grunde sind doch die Mitarbeiter das Problem. Du zahlst, wenn du sie einstellst, du zahlst, wenn du sie rausschmeißt, und dazwischen muss du sie auch noch bezahlen.”
― Max Barry, quote from Company
“Suffering is normal. Pain is normal, it is part of life... What is its texture, the weight of our suffering? What is its meaning? Begin by touching it, by coming close to it, accepting it: Hello, suffering, I am here with you. I am beside you, one with you, I am you. I am suffering.”
― A.M. Homes, quote from This Book Will Save Your Life
“Knowledge—by itself—is an intervention. Our presence changes the way the natives see the world. According to her, there is no way to study these people without causing change." “The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle,”
― quote from A Woman of the Iron People
“Very evil people cannot really be imagined dying.”
― Theodor W. Adorno, quote from Minima Moralia: Reflections from a Damaged Life
Charlotte Sometimes
The Delicate Depende...
Diary of a Provincia...
Stupid and Contagiou...
Tracking the Tempest
The Sacred Book of t...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.
