Theodore Bikel quotes

Theodore Bikel was an Austrian actor, folk singer, and musician renowned for his versatility on stage and screen. His acclaimed performances included roles in films, theater, and notable musical productions like "Fiddler on the Roof." He used his talents to promote cultural understanding and champion social causes throughout his life. Here are 60 of his quotes:

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. By what conduit do we know what we know? (Theodore Bikel)
No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language. View quote
Theodore Bikel
I have always striven to raise the voice of hope for a world where hate gives way to respect and oppression to liberation. View quote
Theodore Bikel
No doubt unity is something to be desired, to be striven for, but it cannot be willed into being by mere declarations. View quote
Theodore Bikel
I am a Zionist, an ardent supporter of Israel, its defender when I deem Israel to be right and its critic when I deem it to be wrong. View quote
Theodore Bikel
You don't really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition. View quote
Theodore Bikel
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. View quote
Theodore Bikel
I know for certain of only one commandment, one obligation, that God imposes upon us, and that is to be compassionate toward other human beings. View quote
Theodore Bikel
Although I am deeply grateful to a great many people, I forgo the temptation of naming them for fear that I might slight any by omission. View quote
Theodore Bikel
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. View quote
Theodore Bikel
But, when I toil in the field of Jewish culture which I frequently do, I am indeed a Jewish artist. (Theodore Bikel)
I always sang, I always acted, I always played. View quote
Theodore Bikel
I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family. View quote
Theodore Bikel
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. View quote
Theodore Bikel
All too often arrogance accompanies strength, and we must never assume that justice is on the side of the strong. The use of power must always be accompanied by moral choice. View quote
Theodore Bikel
Audiences are audiences. View quote
Theodore Bikel
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. View quote
Theodore Bikel
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. View quote
Theodore Bikel
Despite a large body of work in films, TV, theatre and concerts, I am viewed by many as a Jewish artist. I do not resent the label, except for the fact that I disapprove of labels in general. View quote
Theodore Bikel
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. View quote
Theodore Bikel
I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars, banjos, fiddles and words. (Theodore Bikel)
You can't expect the entire world to come to New York to see you. You have to travel to them. View quote
Theodore Bikel
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. View quote
Theodore Bikel
Right up to the middle of this century all perceptions of the world around us were delivered via the bookshelf or the paper route. View quote
Theodore Bikel
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? View quote
Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel - Image
Photo: Bev Sykes, CC BY 2.0
Occupation: Austrian Actor
Born: May 2, 1924
Died: July 21, 2015
Quotes count: 60