When a human being kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice.
Isaac Bashevis SingerRead
A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.
Interpretation
A writer's primary role is to tell stories rather than to impart knowledge or save humanity.
In this quote, Isaac Bashevis Singer emphasizes that the essence of good writing lies in the ability to weave narratives that engage and move readers, rather than focusing on academic analysis or moralistically uplifting society. He honors the art of storytelling as an intrinsic human skill, showing that the heart of writing is in connecting through shared stories rather than lofty intellectual pursuits.
In practice
In a writing workshop, when discussing the importance of narrative, you could say, 'As Isaac Bashevis Singer said, a good writer is basically a storyteller.'
When a human being kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice.
There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is.
Our knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of nonknowledge.
As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together.
Sometimes love is stronger than a man's convictions.
I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens.
My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.
What pleases the public is lively and vivid delineation which makes no demands on the intellect; but passionate and absolutist youth can only be enthralled by a problem.
The music you make is shaped by what you play it on ... if you feel that you're not getting enough out of a song, change the instrument - go from an acoustic to an electric or vice versa, or try an open tuning ... do something to shake it up.
I think what you're always looking for as artists is to be honest and to continue to be honestly driven by that which you are passionately engaged with. It should need not be forced.
I say over and over again that I am just standing on the shoulders of so many who have set this path for me, and they may not be seen or recognized or have been given an opportunity to have a voice, but I'm here representing all of those dancers. Dance Theatre of Harlem Virginia Johnson, Tai Jimenez, Lauren Anderson.
Every now and then I read a poem that does touch something in me, but I never turn to poetry for solace or pleasure in the way that I throw myself into prose.
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