“A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.”
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Isaac Bashevis Singer 39
Polish-born Jewish-American author 1902–1991Related quotes
“I am the teller of the tale, not the creator of the story.”
Attributed
“I’m a good scholar when it comes to reading but a blotting kind of writer when you give me a pen.”
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”
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.”
Literary Remains
Source: Death in the Afternoon (1932), Ch. 11
“The basic challenge to mankind is”
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.
Source: Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
Speech on receiving the Shakespeare Prize awarded by the University of Hamburg, Germany (1969)