“A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.”
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Isaac Bashevis Singer39
Polish-born Jewish-American author 1902–1991Related quotes
“I am the teller of the tale, not the creator of the story.”
Michael Powell (1905–1990) English film director
Attributed
“I’m a good scholar when it comes to reading but a blotting kind of writer when you give me a pen.”
John Millington Synge (1871–1909) Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore
Draft of a preface in “Notebook 16”; Quoted in The Collected Works of J.M. Synge, vol. 1, Introduction.
“The only thing that will redeem mankind is co-operation”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Source: 1950s, Human Society in Ethics and Politics (1954), p. 212
Context: The only thing that will redeem mankind is co-operation, and the first step towards co-operation lies in the hearts of individuals.
“As a story teller, Scott is unrivalled; he would have made the fortune of a cafe at Damascus.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist
Literary Remains
“The basic challenge to mankind is”
Lancelot Law Whyte (1896–1972) Scottish industrial engineer
The Universe of Experience: A Worldview Beyond Science and Religion (1974)
Context: The basic challenge to mankind is not population, poverty, war, technology, pollution, religious or racial intolerance, or blind nationalism, but an underlying nihilism promoting violence and frustrating sane policies on these issues.... the only hope lies in the emergence of a potentially worldwide consensus of heart, mind, and will, appealing to all sane men and women everywhere... The time has come for the west to speak to the world in universal terms.... the consensus, if it comes, is likely to surprise by its suddenness, timeliness, and universality.
Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)
Source: Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
Graham Greene (1904–1991) English writer, playwright and literary critic
Speech on receiving the Shakespeare Prize awarded by the University of Hamburg, Germany (1969)