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Top 30 Theodore Bikel Quotes (2025 Update)

Theodore Bikel Quote: “You don’t really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition.”

1. “You don’t really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I prefer to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go.”

2. “I prefer to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

3. “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

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I don’t speak out because I am an actor nor will I keep silent because I am an actor. I respect my profession, but it endows me with no special privileges; but it also does not limit me or muzzle me. I am a person and a citizen with the attendant responsibilities of voice and vote.”

4. “I don’t speak out because I am an actor nor will I keep silent because I am an actor. I respect my profession, but it endows me with no special privileges; but it also does not limit me or muzzle me. I am a person and a citizen with the attendant responsibilities of voice and vote.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

5. “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

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

6. “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.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

7. “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

Theodore Bikel Quote: “The play is always fresh to me. It’s not the audience’s fault that I’ve said the words before.”

8. “The play is always fresh to me. It’s not the audience’s fault that I’ve said the words before.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I am not a specialist but a general practitioner in the world of the arts.”

9. “I am not a specialist but a general practitioner in the world of the arts.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

10. “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.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I am not, and have never been, in favor of boycotting Israel.”

11. “I am not, and have never been, in favor of boycotting Israel.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “You cannot please all of the people all of the time, and that is truer in the arts than anywhere else.”

12. “You cannot please all of the people all of the time, and that is truer in the arts than anywhere else.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family.”

13. “I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

14. “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

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

15. “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

Theodore Bikel Quote: “In my world, history comes down to language and art.”

16. “In my world, history comes down to language and art.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

17. “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

Theodore Bikel Quote: “There is no role I cannot play except a midget.”

18. “There is no role I cannot play except a midget.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

19. “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.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew.”

20. “I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “In my mind the city of Ariel is a thorn in Israel’s side and a serious obstacle to peace.”

21. “In my mind the city of Ariel is a thorn in Israel’s side and a serious obstacle to peace.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “Accents. I’m very good with accents. I’m exceedingly good.”

22. “Accents. I’m very good with accents. I’m exceedingly good.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “You learn more from the flops than from the hits.”

23. “You learn more from the flops than from the hits.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “It’s a sad thing to contemplate, but I’m the last surviving cast member of ‘The African Queen.’”

24. “It’s a sad thing to contemplate, but I’m the last surviving cast member of ‘The African Queen.’”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I do prefer the stage. It’s really the granddaddy of them all.”

25. “I do prefer the stage. It’s really the granddaddy of them all.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “When something is moving you get that intake of breath and that stillness from the audience.”

26. “When something is moving you get that intake of breath and that stillness from the audience.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I’m exceedingly proud of being an actor, but I never recommend it to anyone.”

27. “I’m exceedingly proud of being an actor, but I never recommend it to anyone.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

28. “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

Theodore Bikel Quote: “I do not know who there is among us that can claim to know God’s purpose and God’s intent.”

29. “I do not know who there is among us that can claim to know God’s purpose and God’s intent.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “Throughout my life I have cared as deeply about the songs of all peoples as I have about the rights of all peoples.”

30. “Throughout my life I have cared as deeply about the songs of all peoples as I have about the rights of all peoples.”

— Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel Quote: “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.”

31. “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

Theodore Bikel Quote: “We Jews have a special attachment to the Book. The study of page after page in tomes yellowing with age was obligatory.”

32. “We Jews have a special attachment to the Book. The study of page after page in tomes yellowing with age was obligatory.”

— Theodore Bikel

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