Chaim Potok quotes

Every man who has shown the world the way to beauty, to true culture, has been a rebel, a 'universal' without patriotism, without home, who has found his people everywhere. (Chaim Potok)
I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own. View quote
Chaim Potok
As you grow older you will discover that the most important things that will happen to you will often come as a result of silly things, as you call them --"ordinary things" is a better expression. That is the way the world is. View quote
Chaim Potok
Something that is yours forever is never precious. View quote
Chaim Potok
Art is whether or not there is a scream in him wanting to get out in a special way. View quote
Chaim Potok
If a person has a contribution to make, he must make it in public. If learning is not made public, it is a waste. View quote
Chaim Potok
Seeds must be sown everywhere. Only some will bear fruit. But there would not be the fruit from the few had the many not been sown. View quote
Chaim Potok
Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things. View quote
Chaim Potok
I do not have many things that are meaningful to me. Except my doubts and my fears. And my art. View quote
Chaim Potok
A life is measured by how it is lived for the sake of heaven. View quote
Chaim Potok
Two hundred or more years ago most people on the planet were never aware of any reality other than the one into which they were brought up. (Chaim Potok)
I went away and cried to the Master of the Universe, "What have you done to me? A mind like this I need for a son? A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!" View quote
Chaim Potok
No one knows he is fortunate until he becomes unfortunate, that's the way the world is. View quote
Chaim Potok
All of us grow up in particular realities - a home, family, a clan, a small town, a neighborhood. Depending upon how we're brought up, we are either deeply aware of the particular reading of reality into which we are born, or we are peripherally aware of it. View quote
Chaim Potok
[Danny] laughed once and said, 'That man is such an ignoramus, Father.' I was angry. 'Look into his soul,' I said. 'Stand inside his soul and see the world through his eyes. You will know the pain he feels because of his ignorance, and you will not laugh.' He was bewildered and hurt. The nightmares he began to have.... But he learned to find answers for himself. He suffered and learned to listen to the suffering of others. In the silence between us, he began to hear the world crying. View quote
Chaim Potok
It's not a pretty world, Papa.' 'I've noticed,' my father said softly. View quote
Chaim Potok
It was senseless, as- I held my breath, feeling myself shiver with fear- as Billy's blindness was senseless. View quote
Chaim Potok
Art begins . . . when someone interprets, when someone sees the world through his own eyes. Art happens when what is seen becomes mixed with the inside of the person who is seeing it. View quote
Chaim Potok
Two people who are true friends are like two bodies with one soul. View quote
Chaim Potok
...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. View quote
Chaim Potok
As a species we are always hungry for new knowledge. (Chaim Potok)
I'm constantly revising. Once the book is written and typed, I go through the entire draft again. View quote
Chaim Potok
If I had a plot that was all set in advance, why would I want go through the agony of writing the novel? A novel is a kind of exploration and discovery, for me at any rate. View quote
Chaim Potok
It is impossible to fuse totally with a culture for which you feel a measure of antagonism. View quote
Chaim Potok
I think the hardest part of writing is revising. And by that I mean the following: A novelist has to create the piece of marble and then chip away to find the figure in it. View quote
Chaim Potok