Greg’s Reviews > Old Truths and New Clichés: Essays by Isaac Bashevis Singer > Status Update

Toward the end of [I.J. Singer’s] life, in the time of the Hitler destruction, he was inclined to admit that humanity seemed hopeless. But he pointed out that there were millions and millions of good people who only shortcoming was their passivity. The Hitlers and their like always rely on submission and long-term suffering of those who reject violence under all conditions.

When people succeed, God succeeds. Our failure does damage to all spheres.

As an anecdote goes about a German professor: when he was told that the facts do not confirm his theory, he cried out, 'It’s the fault of the facts!'

Poverty lies in the very marrow of Yiddish. It is the language of those who are afraid, not those who arouse fear.

The sole standard by which any literary work can be gauged is the readers’ reaction—the pleasures they derive or the pains they enjoy. True, there are vulgar or perverted readers. True, there have always been writers who were not appreciated by their contemporaries. But then who eventually discovers them? Only readers.