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I know for certain of only one commandment, one obligation, that God imposes upon us, and that is to be compassionate toward other human beings.

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
Compassionate
Obligation
Toward
Beings
Upon
Certain
Commandment
Human
Imposes
Humans
Commandments

More quotes by Theodore Bikel

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I am determined to give the Yiddish language a fighting chance to survive.
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The play is always fresh to me. It's not the audience's fault that I've said the words before.
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But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel.
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Epistemology is the study of knowledge. By what conduit do we know what we know?
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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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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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'Visiting Mr. Green' is a good play. I enjoy being in it, and I have a wonderful colleague, Aidan deSalaiz, to work with. Audiences like it a lot. What's not to like?
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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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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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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 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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Having come to live in this age is as though one were to have entered another country. Learn its language or risk being left out.
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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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It's a sad thing to contemplate, but I'm the last surviving cast member of 'The African Queen.'
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You can't expect the entire world to come to New York to see you. You have to travel to them.
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John Huston was the kind of director that totally left you alone. Not every actor always does it right, every time, but most of the time he was re-directing someone. He was making tight adjustments, and not even in terms of interpretation because he knew that by the time that the character had been filmed... well, he got it right when he cast you.
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I prefer to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go.
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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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If I have one vanity wish, it would be to direct. It's the only thing I haven't done yet that I would like to.
Theodore Bikel