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What moves me is neither ethnocentric pride nor sectarian arrogance. I make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures. But it is mine.

Theodore Bikel

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Theodore Bikel
Age: 91 †
Born: 1924
Born: May 2
Died: 2015
Died: July 21
Actor
Businessperson
Film Actor
Musician
Politician
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Trade Unionist
Vienna
Austria
Theodore Meir Bikel
Moving
Jewish
Culture
Moves
Make
Claim
Ethnocentric
Claims
Sectarian
Mines
Cultures
Mine
Arrogance
Neither
Superior
Pride
Superiors

More quotes by Theodore Bikel

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I am filled with awe that filmmakers have the capacity to stir us and give us back a sense of wonder.
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Although I am deeply grateful to a great many people, I forgo the temptation of naming them for fear that I might slight any by omission.
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Must we be put to shame by much smaller and poorer countries, by Ireland, France, Austria or Sweden, who have understood that a nation's support of its arts is a matter of both national pride and cultural survival?
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In my world, history comes down to language and art. No one cares much about what battles were fought, who won them and who lost them - unless there is a painting, a play, a song or a poem that speaks of the event.
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Retiring' - within that word is 'tiring,' and I'm not tired. I don't believe in retirement, really.
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I always sang, I always acted, I always played.
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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.
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Right up to the middle of this century all perceptions of the world around us were delivered via the bookshelf or the paper route.
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After the advent of the written word, the masses who could not - or were not permitted to - read, were given sermons by the few who could.
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In my world, history comes down to language and art.
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I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew.
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I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family.
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I do not know who there is among us that can claim to know God's purpose and God's intent.
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But, when I toil in the field of Jewish culture which I frequently do, I am indeed a Jewish artist.
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An actor is supposed to emulate life. Instead, alas, many are imitating other actors. You don't fashion your knowledge of theatre or your approach to a role on the basis of what other actors have done. This kind of thinking is a great danger, especially in dealing with TV producers who frequently say things like, 'This is a Sean Connery type.'
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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.
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You don't really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition.
Theodore Bikel
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I created the role of Captain Von Trapp.
Theodore Bikel
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While we all could agree that the Zionist ideal is alive and well, there is serious doubt whether the Zionist movement can be said to be an ongoing proposition, fragmented as its components are in ideology and in practice.
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I am determined to give the Yiddish language a fighting chance to survive.
Theodore Bikel