Author Profile
Theodore Bikel
1924 – 2015 • Austrian • Actor
60
Total Quotes
Collected Meditations
Showing 60 quotesIt's a sad thing to contemplate, but I'm the last surviving cast member of 'The African Queen.'— Theodore Bikel
I am first, and foremost, an actor. That's what I am. To me, a song is a mini-drama. My musical ability informs the actor as well because it gives me a sense of timing that non-musicians don't have. So, one hand washes the other.— Theodore Bikel
You cannot please all of the people all of the time, and that is truer in the arts than anywhere else.— Theodore Bikel
I glory in the fact that a human being has multiple talents and exercises them all with a degree of integrity and artistic proficiency. That's what I do.— Theodore Bikel
I refuse to do shows that are narrowly constructed, that appeal to only one sentiment. I do a lot of Jewish material in front of non-Jews and a lot of non-Jewish material in front of Jews on the simple theory that the non-Jews are entitled to a glimpse of a Jewish world and the Jews are entitled to a glimpse of the world.— Theodore Bikel
In my mind the city of Ariel is a thorn in Israel's side and a serious obstacle to peace.— Theodore Bikel
I am a Zionist, an ardent supporter of Israel, its defender when I deem Israel to be right and its critic when I deem it to be wrong.— Theodore Bikel
No doubt, unity is something to be desired, to be striven for, but it cannot be willed by mere declarations.— Theodore Bikel
Right up to the middle of this century all perceptions of the world around us were delivered via the bookshelf or the paper route.— Theodore Bikel
One might have thought the world would stop ascribing moral equivalence between acts of terrorism and acts of punishing terrorism. It has not happened that way.— Theodore Bikel
For I firmly believe that Jewish life, indeed any communal life, can only be organized according to democratic principles.— Theodore Bikel
As an artist I have an even more abiding interest in the compact between the Arts and Government.— Theodore Bikel
You can't expect the entire world to come to New York to see you. You have to travel to them.— Theodore Bikel
You always draw on your experiences with live audiences to know how to do comedy on films. You're working for a laugh that may or may not come six months later, but you're working in a vacuum at the time you are doing it.— Theodore Bikel
On the stage you're there, it's live. There's a beginning, a middle, an end. When something is funny you hear it right away.— Theodore Bikel