Quotes by Israel Zangwill

New York is the great stone desert.

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.

Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan - spoiled.

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

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!

You, the Spirit of the Settlement! ... Not understand that America is God's crucible, the great melting-pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! Here, you stand, good folk, think I, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you stand in your fifty groups, with your fifty languages and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries...

Selfishness is the only real atheism; aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion.

You should examine yourself daily. If you find faults, you should correct them. When you find none, you should try even harder.

Oh, for the simple life,/For tents and starry skies!