Chaim Potok
Chaim Potok
Chaim Potokwas an American Jewish author and rabbi. Potok is most famous for his first book The Chosen, which was listed on The New York Times’ best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth17 February 1929
CityBuffalo, NY
CountryUnited States of America
eye men long
I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life.
giving trouble give-me
Each work seems to give me the most trouble at the time I'm working on it.
teacher true-friend talking
Reuven listen to me. The Talmud says that a person should do two things for himself. One is to acquire a teacher. Do you remember the other." "Choose a friend," I said. "Yes. You know what a friend is, Reuven? A Greek philosopher said that two people who are true friends are like two bodies with one soul." I nodded. "Reuven, if you can, make Danny Saunders your friend." "I like him a lot, abba." "No. Listen to me. I am not talking about only liking him. I am telling you to make him your friend and to let him make you his friend.
america russia carnivals
In Russia I went to a great yeshiva, and in America I work in a carnival.
two silence coins
A word is worth one coin, silence is worth two
book written revising
I'm constantly revising. Once the book is written and typed, I go through the entire draft again.
names film
Yes, there is some thought about making a film of My Name Is Asher Lev.
religious fiction tradition
To the extent that I come from a deeply religious tradition and have been contending with those beginnings all of my life - that constitutes the subject of much of my early fiction.
men meaning-of-life given
The span of a man's life - that is nothing. But what a man makes of that span - that is something. A man must make his own meaning for life. Meaning is not automatically given to life.
writing half six
I don't work on my Sabbath. I write five-and-a-half or six days a week.
art evil good-art
I do not know what evil is when it comes to art. I only know what is good art and what is bad art.
differences lost-friendship honest
Honest differences of opinion should never be permitted to destroy a friendship.
tea happy-things afternoon-tea
Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.
reality years two
Two hundred or more years ago most people on the planet were never aware of any reality other than the one into which they were brought up.