Isaac Leib Peretz: Trending quotes (page 3)

“Man has been likened to an earthen pot…. You have but to tap the pot with your finger. If it rings back full and true, all is well; there is your perfect pot. And if not—man, alas, has been likened to a broken potsherd.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Mesiras Nefesh, c. 1910. Alle Verk, vii. 142. M. Samuel. Prince of the Ghetto. Alfred A. Knopf, 1948, p. 22.

Perfection

“If the husband sits on a chair in the Garden of Eden, his wife is his footstool.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Sholom Bayis, 1889. S. Liptzin. Peretz. Yivo, 1947, p. 153.

“One God, one Law, one people, and one land.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Der Dichter, 1910. Alle Verk, x. 21.

God , People , Law

“Children… constitute man's eternity.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Der Dichter, 1910. S. Liptzin. Peretz. Yivo, 1947, p. 321.

Children

“At the Throne of Glory it is not the nobly-born that are beloved, but the nobly-risen.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Drei Matones, c. 1910. Alle Verk, vii. 18.

“"May all unite to do Thy will with a perfect heart!"… Thus prays the Jew. Have you more beautiful prayers to offer?”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Advice to the Estranged, S. Liptzin. Peretz. Yivo, 1947, p. 348.

Beauty , Heart , Perfection

“The bigger the merchant the smaller the Jew.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

"Fir Dores Fir Tzavoes", 1901. Alle Verk, iv. 237.

“Many refined people will not kill a fly, but eat an ox.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Taanis Gedanken, 1896. Alle Verk, xii. 77.

People , Flying

“Prosperity may be found in small as in big business.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Fir Dores Fir Tzavoes, 1901. Alle Verk, iv. 237.

Business

“The soul is imprisoned in the body, and the Lord… built two windows in the wall of the prison… Unfortunately, the windows have curtains—eyelids; and a man whose soul is impure, feeling himself scrutinized, lets down the curtains and conceals the soul.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Mesiras Nefesh, quoted in M. Samuel. Prince of the Ghetto. Alfred A. Knopf, 1948, p. 22.

Feeling , Soul

“Human lips are now forbidden to utter His name, for being the only God, He needs no name.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Der Dichter, 1910. Alle Verk, x. 23.

God

“Rather a stone, but to be alone!”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Oich a Feleton, 1894. Alle Verk, xii. 64.

“You are the weakest and the least, and the last to be redeemed…. You will be freed, when man will rise above the earthly, when human worms will turn into human eagles.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

The Day, 1906. Alle Verk, xii. 319.

“Little houses in a row,
Down a quiet lane;
Neither doors nor windows know,
Peace and darkness reign.
Though you cannot pay the rent,
You will dwell there with the best.
Where the weary, broken, spent,
Find eternal rest!”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Sewing the Wedding Gown, 1906. Nine One-Act Plays from Yiddish. Translated by Bessie F. White, Boston, John W. Luce & Co., 1932, p. 126.

Peace , Housing

“[About Jews] Sheer egotism compels us to the purest love of mankind as a whole…. Our hearts are like a sponge, receptive to all the newest humanitarian ideas; and our sympathy goes out to all the unfortunate, all the oppressed.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Quoted in Jewish Affairs (Johannesburg), June 1952, p. 28. See Alle Verk, xii. 318.

Love , Idea , Heart

“[About Jews] Among other nations, the vital problems are: a good crop, extension of the boundaries, strong armies, colonies; among us, if we wish to be true to ourselves, the vital questions are: conscience, freedom, culture, ethics.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Verk, edited by Kletzkin, xi. 277f.

Question , Problem , Freedom , Strong

“The worst dog gets the best bone.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Mesiras Nefesh, c. 1910. Alle Verk, vii. 155.

Dogs

“The song that from the heart would spring
Is dead for want of echoing.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

In Alien Lands, translated by Leah W. Leonard.

Spring , Heart , Dead

“A letter depends on how you read it, a melody on how you sing it.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

A Gilgul fun a Nign, 1901. Alle Verk, vi. 33.

Singing , Reading , Dependency

“Prayer sometimes dulls the hunger of the pauper, like a mother's finger thrust into the mouth of her starving baby.”

Isaac Leib Peretz

Quoted in M. Samuel. Prince of the Ghetto. Alfred A. Knopf, 1948, p. 162.

Hunger , Baby