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Quote by Cynthia Ozick

Work

The Messiah of Stockholm: a novel

The work carries a symbolic and evocative title suggesting themes of messianic expectation or prophetic significance set against a Scandinavian urban landscape. The title itself implies a narrative that may explore ideas of savior figures, cultural transformation, or existential searching within a Stockholm setting. Without verified publication details, authorship, plot summary, or critical reception available in public records, further conservative description cannot be responsibly offered beyond the suggestive thematic territory indicated by the title itself. more

Author

Cynthia Ozick
Cynthia Ozick

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. more

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“Visiting someone in a hospital recently, I watched an elderly couple. The man was in a wheelchair, the wife sitting next to him in the visitors' room. For the half-hour that I watched they never exchanged a word, just held hands and looked at each other, and once or twice the man patted his wife's face. The feeling of love was so thick in that room that I felt I was sharing in their communion and was shaken all day by their pain, their love, something sad and also joyful: the fullness of a human relationship.”

“The goal of our life should not be to find joy in marriage, but to bring more love and truth into the world. We marry to assist each other in this task. The most selfish and hateful life of all is that of two beings who unite in order to enjoy life. The highest calling is that of the man who has dedicated his life to serving God and doing good, and who unites with a woman in order to further that purpose.”

“In the range of my character at any given moment, I have acted in the only way it seemed to me I could have acted. This in no way means that I have done what was right; only what was possible for me. Sometimes I have done what I knew was wrong, and have rationalized. But rationalization is a form of desperation. It takes kindness to forgive oneself for one's life.”

“Forgiveness is not simply the absolving of an enemy, or one who has done us wrong. Forgiveness must encompass all those things which disturb the tranquility of our soul: the barking dog that robs you of sleep, the heat of summer, the cold of winter. Forgive the ingrown toenail, the flea that bites; forgive the cranky child, wrinkles, a forgotten birthday.”

“It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuits - like becoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing beautiful women, flying through the stratosphere, or landing on the moon. First-rate pursuits - involving, as they must, trying to understand what life is about and trying to convey that understanding - inevitably result in a sense of failure. A Napoleon, a Churchill, or a Roosevelt can feel himself to be successful, but never a Socrates, a Pascal, or a Blake. Understanding is forever unattainable.”