Explore Quotes by Sholom Aleichem

When you die, others who think they know you, will concoct things about you... Better pick up a pen and write it yourself, for you know yourself best.

I will never permit myself to give in to American taste and lower the standards of art.

When the heart is full, the eyes overflow.

If somebody tells you you have ears like a donkey, pay no attention. But if two people tell you, buy yourself a saddle.

I never turn down a drink. Among friends it’s always appropriate. A man is only a man as they say, but brandy is still brandy. You’ll find that in the Talmud too.

The worm in the radish doesn't think there is anything sweeter.

Without love our life is ... a ship without a rudder ... like a body without a soul.

Love is a taste of paradise.

No matter how bad things get, you got to go on living, even if it kills you.

When the heart is full it runs out of the eyes.

Remember, you must not sleep at the Seder. If you do, Elijah the Prophet will come with a bag on his shoulders. On the two first nights of Passover, Elijah the Prophet goes about looking for those who have fallen asleep at the Seder, and takes them away in his bag.

Playing nuts is a game like any other, neither better than tops, nor worse than cards. The game is played in various ways. There are 'holes' and 'bank' and 'caps.' But every game finishes up in the same way. One boy loses, another wins. And, as always, he who wins is a clever fellow, a smart fellow, a good fellow.

One cannot live on potatoes alone. It is said that one wants bread with potatoes. And when there's no bread, a Jew takes his stick, and goes through the village in search of business.

It is an old custom amongst Jewish children, to become war-like on the 'L'ag Beomer.' They arm themselves from head to foot with wooden swords, pop-guns and bows and arrows. They take food with them, and go off to wage war.

To go to the synagogue with one's father on the Passover eve - is there in the world a greater pleasure than that? What is it worth to be dressed in new clothes from head to foot, and to show off before one's friends? Then the prayers themselves - the first Festival evening prayer and blessing.

There are people who have never been taught anything, and know everything, have never been anywhere, and understand everything, have never given a moment's thought to anything, and comprehend everything. 'Blessed hands' is the name bestowed on these fortunate beings. The world envies, honours and respects them.

You can take a Jew out of a shtetl, but you cannot take a shtetl out of a Jew.

No one knows whom the shoe pinches - no one.

Here lies a plain and simple Jew who wrote in plain and simple prose.

Ah, how many luxuries has the good God prepared for his Jewish children.

A real pleasure is a pleasure that one enjoys by one's self, without a companion, and without a single argument.