[T]he German censorship forbade or mutilated my every book, which was like sticking pins into my soul.
Israel ZangwillThere are three reasons why men of genius have long hair. One is, that they forget it is growing. The second is, that they like it. The third is, that it comes cheaper; they wear it long for the same reason they wear their hats long.
Israel ZangwillA man likes his wife to be just clever enough to appreciate his cleverness, and just stupid enough to admire it.
Israel ZangwillYou, the Spirit of the Settlement! ... Not understand that America is God's crucible, the great melting-pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! Here, you stand, good folk, think I, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you stand in your fifty groups, with your fifty languages and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries.
Israel ZangwillThe Past: Our cradle, not our prison; there is danger as well as appeal in its glamour. The past is for inspiration, not imitation, for continuation, not repetition.
Israel ZangwillO God... make me a child again, even before I die; give me back the simple faith, the clear vision of the child that holds its father's hand.
Israel ZangwillIn the din and tumult of the age, the still small voice of Jerusalem remains our only music.
Israel ZangwillWhat clinical lectures I will give in heaven, demonstrating the ignorance of doctors!
Israel ZangwillYou cannot be anything if you want to be everything. But if you are content to be something, you may by analogy be many things.
Israel ZangwillSelfishness is the only real atheism; aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion.
Israel Zangwill...the wonderful poems interpreting with equal magic the romance of strange lands and times, or the modern soul, naked and unashamed, as if clothed in its own complexity; the humorous-tragic questionings of the universe; the delicious travel-pictures and fantasies; the lucid criticisms of art, and politics, and philosophy, informed with malicious wisdom, shimmering with poetry and wit.
Israel ZangwillThe law of dislike for the unlike will always prevail. And whereas the unlike is normally situated at a safe distance, the Jews bring the unlike into the heart of every milieu, and must there defend a frontier line as large as the world.
Israel ZangwillThe way Bernard Shaw believes in himself is very refreshing in these atheistic days when so many people believe in no God at all.
Israel ZangwillArtistic truth is for me literally the highest truth: art may seize the essence of persons and movements no less truly, and certainly far more vitally, than a scientific generalization unifies a chaos of phenomena. Time and Space are only the conditions through which spiritual facts struggle. Hence I have here and there permitted myself liberties with these categories.
Israel ZangwillAmerica is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming!
Israel ZangwillNo, the real American has not yet arrived. He is only in the Crucible, I tell you - he will be the fusion of all races, perhaps the coming superman.
Israel ZangwillYou should examine yourself daily. If you find faults, you should correct them. When you find none, you should try even harder.
Israel Zangwill