Home / Authors / Cynthia Ozick

Cynthia Ozick Quotes

Writer

Cynthia Ozick is an accomplished American writer, born on April 17, 1928. Her works are renowned for their profound thoughtfulness and unique literary style, often focusing on moral and philosophical issues.

Filter quotes by topic

All Writing Language Ifs Book Firsts Ideas Imagination Literature Reader Doe Fiction Knows Novel Reading Stills Born Death Inspirational Kind Life

Famous Cynthia Ozick Quotes

“Imagine an American Hans Christian Andersen, conceive of the Brothers Grimm living in Missouri, and you will approximate Howard Schwartz, a fable-maker and fable-gatherer seduced by the uncanny and the unearthly. In Lilith's Cave, he once again reaches into a magical cornucopia of folklore and fantasy and spreads before us, in enchanting language, the marvels and shocks of dybbuks, ghosts, demons, spirits, and wizards.”

Christian Spirit Language Fantasy Imagine Brother Spread Ghost Demon Shock Makers Caves Wizards Fables Folklore Uncanny Enchanting Missouri Lilith Grimm Brothers Grimm

Author:Cynthia Ozick

“Language makes culture, and we make a rotten culture when we abuse words.”

Culture Language Abuse Rotten

Author:Cynthia Ozick

“One must avoid ambition in order to write. Otherwise something else is the goal: some kind of power beyond the power of language. And the power of language, it seems to me, is the only kind of power a writer is entitled to.”

Writing Kind Seems Order Language Goal Ambition Entitled Power Of Language

Author:Cynthia Ozick

“Fiction does not invent out of a vacuum, but it invents; and what it invents is, first, the fabric and cadence of language, and then a slant of idea that sails out of these as a fin lifts from the sea.”

Firsts Doe Ideas Language Fiction Sea Lifts Fabric Sail Vacuums Cadence Fins

Book:The Din in the Head

Source: The Din in the Head

“If ideas are what feed serious literature and arresting language, who today is writing a novel of ideas (which can often mean comedy)? I think of Joshua Cohen. Who else?”

Ifs Thinking Writing Mean Ideas Today Literature Language Novel Comedy Serious Arresting

Author:Cynthia Ozick

“The power of language, it seems to me, is the only kind of power a writer is entitled to.”

Writing Kind Seems Language Entitled Power Of Language Language And Power

Author:Cynthia Ozick

“Above all, a book is a riverbank for the river of language. Language without the riverbank is only television talk - a free fall, a loose splash, a spill.”

Book Fall Reading Language Television Rivers Book Reading Spills

Book:A Cynthia Ozick reader

Source: A Cynthia Ozick reader

About the Author

Born: April 17, 1928
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 101

Books & Sources

Art & ardor: essaysRelated source material

TrustRelated source material

A Cynthia Ozick readerRelated source material

The Messiah of Stockholm: a novelRelated source material

Art and ArdorRelated source material

The Messiah of StockholmRelated source material

AntiquitiesRelated source material

Foreign BodiesRelated source material

Portrait of the Artist as a Bad Character: And Other Essays on WritingRelated source material

The Din in the HeadRelated source material

Similar Authors

Guillermo Cabrera InfanteBrowse related quotes
William ZinsserBrowse related quotes
Joyce Carol OatesBrowse related quotes
Elmore LeonardBrowse related quotes
Flannery O'ConnorBrowse related quotes
Natalie GoldbergBrowse related quotes
Anne TylerBrowse related quotes
Lynn AbbeyBrowse related quotes
Ann PatchettBrowse related quotes
Irwin ShawBrowse related quotes