59 quotes
The greatest danger to any discipline is the creation of a static model that keeps the same vocabulary for any length of time. In such a case, the intellectual becomes an ex-intellectual in no time.
The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East (1995)
We write of what we know, but a large part of our local culture-not all but a large part-tends to lose its significance in transposition.
The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East (1995)
Let us recall the precise role myth plays in society: it inhibits change. Perhaps that is its raison d'être.
The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East (1995)
We are living in an age of peacemaking. Not peace through love. Peace through accord.
The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East (1995)
Past Latrun, between the low hills and the mountains,Ada, without warning, finds herself driving into fear. (first line)
Twilight and Other Stories (1992)
They were born without, and I was quibbling over a housecoat.
Twilight and Other Stories (1992)
Ido's mother is the only person with whom Ada can really laugh out loud, the way you can laugh with someone who has known you since childhood.
Twilight and Other Stories (1992)
She feels sad that the light has gone; she thinks of darkness as one of those bad times that only being old enough can get you through, with a measure of resignation.
Twilight and Other Stories (1992)
To my mind, the whole world is nothing more than an invitation to take part in creation. Literature, at least-or at least the magic of opening sentences-answers this need. ("Beginnings")
The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East (1995)
An ocean of music foams through him in great waves and keeps on going. (about Tony Crowther, chapter 6 p130)
City of Many Days (1972)
The radical, right-wing parties-Tehiya and Kahane-America's "gift" to us.
Interview (1985)
Her laugh is like slivers of sunlight. (about Hulda, chapter 3 p40)
City of Many Days (1972)
I write about Israeli experience, and that experience, being so intense and concentrated, is probably a good background for distilling human experience anywhere.
Interview (1985)
there is nothing in the world as morally binding as belonging to a minority.
The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East (1995)
The Hittite woman would not give up. Each time Salu came, she clutched desperately at the threads of his life as if at a garment she could pull him by. (p 171)
After Childhood (1994)
Food is a world view. It is the real relationship between man and his environment; it is enjoying all this bounty, or forcing and being forced. ("On Being a Levantine")
The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East (1995)
Ido chatters gaily as a sparrow.
Twilight and Other Stories (1992)
Today, we can discern from the vocabulary the underlying ideology of a text or a speech. No self-respecting liberal would freely use the terms "enemy," or "annihilate," or "avenge," which no fundamentalist can do without.
The Vocabulary of Peace: Life, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East (1995)
We must never make the mistake of confusing a criminal act with a national policy.
Interview (1985)
And yet, thought many of the camp dwellers without saying it, and yet we should have had a god to show them. So as not to be shamed. (p 32)
The Miracle Hater (1984)