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Quotes from A Jewish Writer in America — Saul Bellow

1915–2005 Canada

← All quotes by Saul Bellow

4 quotes

What is imposed on us by birth and environment is what we are called upon to overcome.

A Jewish Writer in America (2011)

We are free to withdraw (to withdraw our minds where we cannot withdraw our bodies) from situations in which our humanity or lack of it is defined for us.

A Jewish Writer in America (2011)

A millennial belief in a Holy God may have the effect of deepening the soul, but it is also obviously archaic, and modern influences would presently bring me up to date and reveal how antiquated my origins were. To turn away from those origins, however, has always seemed to me an utter impossibility. It would be a treason to my first consciousness to un-Jew myself.

A Jewish Writer in America (2011)

One’s language is a spiritual location. It houses your soul. If you were born in America all essential communication, your deepest conversations with yourself, will be in English. … Your English is the principal instrument of your humanity.

A Jewish Writer in America (2011)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Saul Bellow (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.