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" 'Retiring' - within that word is 'tiring,' and I'm not tired. I don't believe in retirement, really. "
Theodore Bikel
Within
Believe
Retirement
Related Quotes:
" You don't really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition. "
Theodore Bikel
Need
You
Exist
" 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
" 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
" I do not know who there is among us that can claim to know God's purpose and God's intent. "
Theodore Bikel
God
Us
Claim
" 'Visiting Mr. Green' is a good play. I enjoy being in it, and I have a wonderful colleague, Aidan deSalaiz, to work with. Audiences like it a lot. What's not to like? "
Theodore Bikel
Play
Good
Green
" There is no role I cannot play except a midget. "
Theodore Bikel
Play
Except
Midget
" It's a sad thing to contemplate, but I'm the last surviving cast member of 'The African Queen.' "
Theodore Bikel
Queen
Thing
Surviving
" Must we be put to shame by much smaller and poorer countries, by Ireland, France, Austria or Sweden, who have understood that a nation's support of its arts is a matter of both national pride and cultural survival? "
Theodore Bikel
Survival
Support
Pride
" In my world, history comes down to language and art. No one cares much about what battles were fought, who won them and who lost them - unless there is a painting, a play, a song or a poem that speaks of the event. "
Theodore Bikel
World
History
Art
" I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew. "
Theodore Bikel
I Can
Better
I Am
" You always draw on your experiences with live audiences to know how to do comedy on films. You're working for a laugh that may or may not come six months later, but you're working in a vacuum at the time you are doing it. "
Theodore Bikel
Doing
Know
You
" While we all could agree that the Zionist ideal is alive and well, there is serious doubt whether the Zionist movement can be said to be an ongoing proposition, fragmented as its components are in ideology and in practice. "
Theodore Bikel
Serious
Alive
Doubt
" I am not a specialist but a general practitioner in the world of the arts. "
Theodore Bikel
World
Arts
General
" 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
" But, when I toil in the field of Jewish culture which I frequently do, I am indeed a Jewish artist. "
Theodore Bikel
I Am
Am
Jewish
" I always sang, I always acted, I always played. "
Theodore Bikel
Sang
Played
Always
" Epistemology is the study of knowledge. By what conduit do we know what we know? "
Theodore Bikel
Epistemology
Study
Knowledge
" I am determined to give the Yiddish language a fighting chance to survive. "
Theodore Bikel
Fighting
I Am
Language
" 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
" We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task. "
Theodore Bikel
Task
Conquer
World
" Throughout my life I have cared as deeply about the songs of all peoples as I have about the rights of all peoples. "
Theodore Bikel
Rights
Songs
My Life
" You learn more from the flops than from the hits. "
Theodore Bikel
More
Than
Flops
" I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars, banjos, fiddles and words. "
Theodore Bikel
Whose
Cause
Common
" Accents. I'm very good with accents. I'm exceedingly good. "
Theodore Bikel
Very
Accents
Exceedingly
" 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
" 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
" I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family. "
Theodore Bikel
Family
Within
I Am
" For I firmly believe that Jewish life, indeed any communal life, can only be organized according to democratic principles. "
Theodore Bikel
Organized
Principles
Believe
" I have always striven to raise the voice of hope for a world where hate gives way to respect and oppression to liberation. "
Theodore Bikel
Way
Hope
Respect
" On the stage you're there, it's live. There's a beginning, a middle, an end. When something is funny you hear it right away. "
Theodore Bikel
Beginning
You
Right