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

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

Everything changes but change.
Israel Zangwill

In how many lives does love really play a dominant part? The average taxpayer is no more capable of a 'grand passion' than of a grand opera.
Israel Zangwill

It takes two men to make one brother.
Israel Zangwill

New York is the great stone desert.
Israel Zangwill

No Jew was ever fool enough to turn Christian unless he was a clever man.
Israel Zangwill

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

Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan - spoiled.
Israel Zangwill

Selfishness is the only real atheism; unselfishness the only real religion.
Israel Zangwill


The only true love is love at first sight; second sight dispels it.
Israel Zangwill

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.
Israel Zangwill