Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Israel Zangwill (English Writer, Political Activist)

Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) was an English British novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, poet, and translator. Also a leader of cultural Zionism during the 19th century, he was one of the earliest English interpreters of Jewish immigrant life.

Zangwill’s famous epigram, ‘The Chosen People is a choosing people,’ expresses the sentiments of Jews torn between intense loyalty to the religious tradition and the allure of the wider world.

Born in London’s Whitechapel ghetto to immigrant parents, Zangwill went to school in Plymouth and Bristol but was mainly self-taught, and graduated with honours at London University. After teaching, he became a journalist and was editor of the comic journal Ariel. He published the witty tales collected as The Bachelors’ Club (1891) and The Old Maids’ Club (1892.)

A leading Zionist, he wrote poems, plays, and essays. He became widely known for his novels on Jewish themes, including Children of the Ghetto (1892) and Ghetto Tragedies (1894.) His stories and novels were infused with a sense of the Jewish lifestyle and its values.

Zangwill was a close associate of Theodor Herzl, initiator of a Zionism movement to establish a Jewish homeland. Zangwill broke with the movement in 1905, rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. He became the prime thinker behind the Jewish Territorial Organization, which advocated the settlement of Jews not necessarily in Palestine but anywhere Within the British Empire where they could build a home as an independent people.

Zangwill returned to the Zionist effort when Palestine’s Jewish settlement became distinct at the end of World War I. He helped the Balfour Declaration, proclaiming the right of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

Zangwill’s only significant contribution to crime and mystery, the novelette Big Bow Mystery (1892,) first serialized in the London Star in 1891, was made into three movies: The Perfect Crime (1928,) Crime Doctor (1934,) and The Verdict (1946.) Zangwill’s other works are The Master (1895,) the essays Without Prejudice (1896,) and the plays The Revolted Daughter (1901,) The Melting Pot (1908,) and We Moderns (1925.)

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Israel Zangwill

Oh, for the simple life,/For tents and starry skies!
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Solitude

Every dogma has its day, but ideals are eternal.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Ideals

The Past: Our cradle, not our prison; there s danger as well as appeal in its glamour. The past is for inspiration, not imitation, for continuation, not repetition.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Inspiration, Past, Reflection

Selfishness is the only real atheism; unselfishness the only real religion.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Selfishness, Aspirations, Religion, Atheism

How full and rich a world
Theirs to inhabit is—
Sweet scent of grass and bloom,
Playmates’ glad symphony,
Cool touch of western wind,
Sunshine’s divine caress.
How should they know or feel
They are in darkness?
But, oh, the miracle!
If a Redeemer came,
Laid finger on their eyes—
One touch and what a world,
New-born in loveliness!
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Children

Everything changes but change.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Change

It takes two men to make a brother.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Brothers, Relationships

No… the real American has not yet arrived. He is only in the Crucible, I tell you—he will be the fusion of all races, perhaps the coming superman.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: America

The way Bernard Shaw believes in himself is very refreshing in these atheistic days when so many believe in no God at all.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Writing

Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan—spoiled.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Christians, Christianity

A man likes his wife to be just clever enough to appreciate his cleverness, and just stupid enough to admire it.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Cleverness, Admiration, Intelligence

You should examine yourself daily. If you find faults, you should correct them. When you find none, you should try even harder.
Israel Zangwill
Topics: Self-respect, Self Respect

America is God’s Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming!
Israel Zangwill
Topics: America

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