Democracy in many parts of the world is undergoing a very deep crisis. Politics is becoming a branch of the entertainment industry. People vote not for the best leader, but for the funniest candidate.

Amos Oz

Categorized in : People Leader Democracy

Many intellectuals in America and in Europe, they are in the habit of taking sides: who are the bad guys? who are the good guys? They launch a demonstration against the bad guys, sign a petition in favor of the good guys, and going to sleep feeling well about themselves.

sleep europe america

In my essays and articles I have been saying again and again that the case of Israel and Palestine, the case of Israel and the Arab world, and indeed the case of Israel and Europe, is not black and white. It's not a western movie.

black-and-white israel europe

I don't think a novel's main donation, main gift, is the document. The document is there, but a novel goes beyond documentation. It goes into opening a new vista, opening a new perspective, showing familiar things in an unfamiliar way, and making the reader reconsider the documentary facts which he or she may have known before.

documentation perspective thinking

I'm not sure I'm happy with words such as "task" or "role" when t... by Amos Oz

I'm not sure I'm happy with words such as "task" or "role" when they are attached to literature.

roles tasks literature

Literature may open a third eye in the middle of the reader's for... by Amos Oz

Literature may open a third eye in the middle of the reader's forehead.

eye literature may

Literature is about telling stories. by Amos Oz

Literature is about telling stories.

telling-stories literature stories

I would not waste five years of my life in order to send to the Israeli readers a simple message such as, "Let us change a policy or stop the settlements," Or, "Let us strive for peace." This is not what it is about.

simple order years

I prefer to talk about the gift of literature rather than its rol... by Amos Oz

I prefer to talk about the gift of literature rather than its role or task.

roles tasks literature

Each time I have the urge in me to make a statement or send a message or to issue a manifesto, I don't bother to write a novel. I write an article and publish it in a popular newspaper, or I make a television appearance.

issues writing television

I don't think a decent person has to choose between being pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. I think you have to be pro-Peace.

palestine israel thinking

I never regard my characters, my protagonists, as personifications. It's not that I sit by my desk and I pick up a character who will be the spokesperson of the Israeli Left, another one will be the spokesperson of the Right, another one will be the spokesperson of Middle Eastern Jews, European Jews, religions Jews and so on.

desks middle character

The place of my novels is Israel, almost without exception. All of them take place in Israel - in Jerusalem, in the desert, in the kibbutz, in small towns, in villages.

jerusalem village israel

All my novels are rooted in their time and in their place. by Amos Oz

All my novels are rooted in their time and in their place.

rooted novel

I'm a great believer in compromises. I do not believe in capitula... by Amos Oz

I'm a great believer in compromises. I do not believe in capitulation.

believer compromise believe

I know one or two things about fanaticism and death, and I reject... by Amos Oz

I know one or two things about fanaticism and death, and I reject them.

rejects knows two

I'm a great believer in compromise. I know it's not popular among... by Amos Oz

I'm a great believer in compromise. I know it's not popular among young idealists.

compromise idealist young

You know, gynecology has a role; sex is a gift. And literature is... by Amos Oz

You know, gynecology has a role; sex is a gift. And literature is not about sending messages.

gynecology roles sex

When I need to take a side, I write a newspaper article and I tell my government, "You should not do that, you should do this." They don't listen to me, but I've been doing this for sixty years now. But, when I write a novel, I am not in that business.

government writing years

I often write about reconciling. Reconciling, or maybe half-reconciling between antagonists, between people who are deadly enemies.

writing people enemy

I write about reconciliation, but not as a miracle, as a slow, gradual process of mutual discovery - discovering one another.

miracle writing discovery