Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" I tried for a while to be an agricultural worker and was hopelessly bored. I would stand around in heaps of manure and sing about the beauty of the work I wasn't doing. "
Theodore Bikel
Beauty
Stand
Work
Related Quotes:
" The play is always fresh to me. It's not the audience's fault that I've said the words before. "
Theodore Bikel
Play
Said
Words
" Having come to live in this age is as though one were to have entered another country. Learn its language or risk being left out. "
Theodore Bikel
Country
Risk
Live
" One might have thought the world would stop ascribing moral equivalence between acts of terrorism and acts of punishing terrorism. It has not happened that way. "
Theodore Bikel
Thought
Terrorism
Stop
" I refuse to do shows that are narrowly constructed, that appeal to only one sentiment. I do a lot of Jewish material in front of non-Jews and a lot of non-Jewish material in front of Jews on the simple theory that the non-Jews are entitled to a glimpse of a Jewish world and the Jews are entitled to a glimpse of the world. "
Theodore Bikel
Simple
World
Theory
" Every actor wants to direct. "
Theodore Bikel
Every
Wants
Direct
" You can't expect the entire world to come to New York to see you. You have to travel to them. "
Theodore Bikel
Travel
World
You
" I created the role of Captain Von Trapp. "
Theodore Bikel
Created
Von
Captain
" After the advent of the written word, the masses who could not - or were not permitted to - read, were given sermons by the few who could. "
Theodore Bikel
Who
Read
Word
" I always sang, I always acted, I always played. "
Theodore Bikel
Sang
Played
Always
" I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew. "
Theodore Bikel
I Can
Better
I Am
" An actor is supposed to emulate life. Instead, alas, many are imitating other actors. You don't fashion your knowledge of theatre or your approach to a role on the basis of what other actors have done. This kind of thinking is a great danger, especially in dealing with TV producers who frequently say things like, 'This is a Sean Connery type.' "
Theodore Bikel
Theatre
Knowledge
Life
" We Jews have a special attachment to the Book. The study of page after page in tomes yellowing with age was obligatory. "
Theodore Bikel
Age
Page
Special
" But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel. "
Theodore Bikel
Here
Child
Celebrate
" I make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures or that the Jewish song is better than the song of my neighbor. "
Theodore Bikel
Song
Better
Claim
" As an artist I have an even more abiding interest in the compact between the Arts and Government. "
Theodore Bikel
Artist
More
Interest
" You learn more from the flops than from the hits. "
Theodore Bikel
More
Than
Flops
" Right up to the middle of this century all perceptions of the world around us were delivered via the bookshelf or the paper route. "
Theodore Bikel
Paper
Middle
World
" No movement can afford to be caught in a time warp and exist in a state of suspended animation. "
Theodore Bikel
Afford
Time
Exist
" We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task. "
Theodore Bikel
Task
Conquer
World
" No doubt unity is something to be desired, to be striven for, but it cannot be willed into being by mere declarations. "
Theodore Bikel
Something
Doubt
Being
" I am filled with awe that filmmakers have the capacity to stir us and give us back a sense of wonder. "
Theodore Bikel
Sense
Awe
Us
" I am not a specialist but a general practitioner in the world of the arts. "
Theodore Bikel
World
Arts
General
" I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars, banjos, fiddles and words. "
Theodore Bikel
Whose
Cause
Common
" If I have one vanity wish, it would be to direct. It's the only thing I haven't done yet that I would like to. "
Theodore Bikel
Vanity
Direct
Done
" What moves me is neither ethnocentric pride nor sectarian arrogance. I make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures. But it is mine. "
Theodore Bikel
Pride
Me
Cultures
" I am first, and foremost, an actor. That's what I am. To me, a song is a mini-drama. My musical ability informs the actor as well because it gives me a sense of timing that non-musicians don't have. So, one hand washes the other. "
Theodore Bikel
Actor
Timing
Song
" I glory in the fact that a human being has multiple talents and exercises them all with a degree of integrity and artistic proficiency. That's what I do. "
Theodore Bikel
Human Being
Glory
Human
" Accents. I'm very good with accents. I'm exceedingly good. "
Theodore Bikel
Very
Accents
Exceedingly
" By showing hunger, deprivation, starvation and brutality, as well as endurance and nobility, documentaries inform, prod our memories, even stir us to action. Such films do battle for our very soul. "
Theodore Bikel
Action
Us
Endurance
" In my mind the city of Ariel is a thorn in Israel's side and a serious obstacle to peace. "
Theodore Bikel
Obstacle
Mind
City