Cynthia Ozick quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Cynthia Ozick

Cynthia Ozick Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Cynthia Ozick on Wise Famous Quotes.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: In books, as in life, there are no second chances. On second thought: it's the next work, still to be written, that offers the second chance.

In books, as in life, there are no second chances. On second thought: it's the next work, still to be written, that offers the second chance.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: In saying what is obvious, never choose cunning. Yelling works better.

In saying what is obvious, never choose cunning. Yelling works better.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The trouble with happiness is that it never notices itself.

The trouble with happiness is that it never notices itself.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: It is useless either to hate or to love truth - but it should be noticed.

It is useless either to hate or to love truth - but it should be noticed.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Godlessness invariably produces vulgarity. Civilization is the product of belief.

Godlessness invariably produces vulgarity. Civilization is the product of belief.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Lie, illusion, deception, she saidwas that it truly, the universal language we all speak?

Lie, illusion, deception, she said
was that it truly, the universal language we all speak?

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The ordinary is the divine.

The ordinary is the divine.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: We take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.

We take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: After a certain number of years, our faces become our biographies.

After a certain number of years, our faces become our biographies.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: He who cries, 'What do I care about universality? I only know what is in me,' does not know even that.

He who cries, 'What do I care about universality? I only know what is in me,' does not know even that.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Very bright teeth as big and orderly as piano keys.

Very bright teeth as big and orderly as piano keys.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The usefulness of madmen is famous: they demonstrate society's logic flagrantly carried out down to its last scrimshaw scrap.

The usefulness of madmen is famous: they demonstrate society's logic flagrantly carried out down to its last scrimshaw scrap.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: We have had, alas, and still have, the doubtful habit of reverence. Above all, we respect things as they are.

We have had, alas, and still have, the doubtful habit of reverence. Above all, we respect things as they are.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The novelist's intuition for the sacred differs from the translator's interrogation of the sacred.

The novelist's intuition for the sacred differs from the translator's interrogation of the sacred.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Hebrew as a contemporary language, especially for poetry, is no longer the language of the Bible; but neither is it not the language of the Bible.

Hebrew as a contemporary language, especially for poetry, is no longer the language of the Bible; but neither is it not the language of the Bible.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Resentment is a communicable disease and should be quarantined.

Resentment is a communicable disease and should be quarantined.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: All politicians know that every 'temporary' political initiative promised as a short-term poultice stays on the books forever.

All politicians know that every 'temporary' political initiative promised as a short-term poultice stays on the books forever.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: To imagine the unimaginable is the highest use of the imagination

To imagine the unimaginable is the highest use of the imagination

Cynthia Ozick quotes: To be any sort of competent writer one must keep one's psychological distance from the supreme artists.

To be any sort of competent writer one must keep one's psychological distance from the supreme artists.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: You can never tell how genes ricochet.

You can never tell how genes ricochet.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: I write in terror ... I have to talk myself into bravery with every sentence, sometimes every syllable.

I write in terror ... I have to talk myself into bravery with every sentence, sometimes every syllable.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: If we had to say what writing is, we would have to define it essentially as an act of courage.

If we had to say what writing is, we would have to define it essentially as an act of courage.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: History ... isn't simply what has happened. It's a judgment on what has happened.

History ... isn't simply what has happened. It's a judgment on what has happened.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: In the compact between novelist and reader, the novelist promises to lie, and the reader promises to allow it.

In the compact between novelist and reader, the novelist promises to lie, and the reader promises to allow it.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Whoever mourns the dead mourns himself.

Whoever mourns the dead mourns himself.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: With certain rapturous exceptions, literature is the moral life.

With certain rapturous exceptions, literature is the moral life.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: If a novel's salient aim is virtue, I want to throw it against the wall.

If a novel's salient aim is virtue, I want to throw it against the wall.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The imagination has resources and intimations we don't even know about.

The imagination has resources and intimations we don't even know about.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Literature is for the sake of humanity.

Literature is for the sake of humanity.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Of comic novels that have quaffed the elixir of 'classic': Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm.

Of comic novels that have quaffed the elixir of 'classic': Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Life is that which - pressingly, persistently, unfailingly, imperially - interrupts.

Life is that which - pressingly, persistently, unfailingly, imperially - interrupts.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Time at length becomes justice.

Time at length becomes justice.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The engineering is secondary to the vision.

The engineering is secondary to the vision.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: I never conceived of not writing a novel. I believed - oh, God, I believed, it was an article of faith! - I was born to write a novel.

I never conceived of not writing a novel. I believed - oh, God, I believed, it was an article of faith! - I was born to write a novel.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Dedication to one's work in the world is the only possible sanctifica-tion. Religion in all its forms is dedication to Someone Else's work, not yours.

Dedication to one's work in the world is the only possible sanctifica-tion. Religion in all its forms is dedication to Someone Else's work, not yours.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: I am proudest of that first novel, 'Trust,' of anything I have written. I don't think I've had such intense energy since.

I am proudest of that first novel, 'Trust,' of anything I have written. I don't think I've had such intense energy since.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: James (like the far more visceral Conrad) seizes your life.

James (like the far more visceral Conrad) seizes your life.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Hebrew in America has a bemusing past. The Puritans, out of scriptural piety, once dreamed of establishing Hebrew as the national language.

Hebrew in America has a bemusing past. The Puritans, out of scriptural piety, once dreamed of establishing Hebrew as the national language.

Awe consumes any brand that ignites it ...

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The novella will be called, I think, "The Messiah of Stockholm." It takes place in Stockholm. I'd better say no more, or the Muse will wipe it out.

The novella will be called, I think, "The Messiah of Stockholm." It takes place in Stockholm. I'd better say no more, or the Muse will wipe it out.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: It is the function of a liberal university not to give right answers, but to ask right questions.

It is the function of a liberal university not to give right answers, but to ask right questions.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Real apprenticeship is ultimately always to the self.

Real apprenticeship is ultimately always to the self.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: It is true that money attracts; but much money repels.

It is true that money attracts; but much money repels.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: People who mistake facts for ideas are incomplete thinkers; they are gossips

People who mistake facts for ideas are incomplete thinkers; they are gossips

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Auden is a poet - no, the poet - of unembarrassed intellect. Ideas are his emotions, emotions are his ideas.

Auden is a poet - no, the poet - of unembarrassed intellect. Ideas are his emotions, emotions are his ideas.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Two things remain irretrievable: time and a first impression.

Two things remain irretrievable: time and a first impression.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: I think that fanaticism is terrific. As long as you don't have to live with it. Oh, yes, nobody should marry a writer.

I think that fanaticism is terrific. As long as you don't have to live with it. Oh, yes, nobody should marry a writer.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: One reason writers write is out of revenge.

One reason writers write is out of revenge.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.

What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: I read in order to write. I read out of obsession with writing.

I read in order to write. I read out of obsession with writing.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: To listen acutely is to be powerless, even if you sit on a throne.

To listen acutely is to be powerless, even if you sit on a throne.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The power of language, it seems to me, is the only kind of power a writer is entitled to.

The power of language, it seems to me, is the only kind of power a writer is entitled to.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The imagination is a species of knowledge, knowledge that can take the form of discovery.

The imagination is a species of knowledge, knowledge that can take the form of discovery.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Death persecutes before it executes.

Death persecutes before it executes.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Literature is an instrument of a culture, not a summary of it.

Literature is an instrument of a culture, not a summary of it.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Why do men carry guns and build prison camps, when the nurturing earth is made for freedom?

Why do men carry guns and build prison camps, when the nurturing earth is made for freedom?

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The secular Jew is a figment; when a Jew becomes a secular person he is no longer a Jew.

The secular Jew is a figment; when a Jew becomes a secular person he is no longer a Jew.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: To want to be what one can be is purpose in life.

To want to be what one can be is purpose in life.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Time heals all things but one: Time.

Time heals all things but one: Time.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: All writing is presumption, of course, since no one knows what it is like to be another human being.

All writing is presumption, of course, since no one knows what it is like to be another human being.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: In real life wishing, divorced from willing, is sterile and begets nothing.

In real life wishing, divorced from willing, is sterile and begets nothing.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Language makes culture, and we make a rotten culture when we abuse words.

Language makes culture, and we make a rotten culture when we abuse words.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Old saws have no teeth.

Old saws have no teeth.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Traveling is seeing; it is the implicit that we travel by.

Traveling is seeing; it is the implicit that we travel by.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: I think most of my life I have not felt recognized.

I think most of my life I have not felt recognized.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Comedy springs from the ludicrous; but the ludicrous is stuck in the muck of reality, resolutely hostile to what is impossible.

Comedy springs from the ludicrous; but the ludicrous is stuck in the muck of reality, resolutely hostile to what is impossible.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: I had the idea in my twenties that a writer could immediately become the late Henry James. Henry James himself had to mature. Even Saul Bellow did.

I had the idea in my twenties that a writer could immediately become the late Henry James. Henry James himself had to mature. Even Saul Bellow did.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: What we think we are surely going to do, we don't do; and what we never intended to do, we may one day notice that we have done, and done,

What we think we are surely going to do, we don't do; and what we never intended to do, we may one day notice that we have done, and done, and done.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: The art of fiction is freedom of will for your characters.

The art of fiction is freedom of will for your characters.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: We were born to die; we were born to endure, on the way to death, sorrow-sorrow in manifold shapes.

We were born to die; we were born to endure, on the way to death, sorrow-sorrow in manifold shapes.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Is there a word more passionate than passion? Obsession, total immersion, the feeling that everything else doesn't matter.

Is there a word more passionate than passion? Obsession, total immersion, the feeling that everything else doesn't matter.

Cynthia Ozick quotes: Profound subject matter can be encompassed in small space - for proof, look at any sonnet by Shakespeare!

Profound subject matter can be encompassed in small space - for proof, look at any sonnet by Shakespeare!

Cynthia Ozick quotes: To desire to be what one can be is purpose in life. There are no exterior forces. There are only interior forces. Who squanders talent praises death.

To desire to be what one can be is purpose in life. There are no exterior forces. There are only interior forces. Who squanders talent praises death.