An artist is a person first.
Chaim Potok
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In Chaim Potok's "My Name Is Asher Lev," the protagonist navigates the complexities of being both an artist and a member of a strict Hasidic community. The story highlights the struggle between individual passion and communal expectations, emphasizing the sacrifices Asher must make to pursue his art.

The quote "An artist is a person first" encapsulates the essence of Asher's journey, reflecting his quest for personal identity amidst conflicting values. It underlines the idea that creativity is deeply intertwined with one’s humanity and life experiences, ultimately shaping the artist's perspective and expression.

In Chaim Potok's "My Name Is Asher Lev," the protagonist navigates the complexities of being both an artist and a member of a strict Hasidic community. The story highlights the struggle between individual passion and communal expectations, emphasizing the sacrifices Asher must make to pursue his art.

The quote "An artist is a person first" encapsulates the essence of Asher's journey, reflecting his quest for personal identity amidst conflicting values. It underlines the idea that creativity is deeply intertwined with one’s humanity and life experiences, ultimately shaping the artist's perspective and expression.

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My Name Is Asher Lev
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Chaim Potok
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March 14, 2025
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Other quotes in My Name Is Asher Lev

I cannot pray. I talk to God through my sculpture and painting.' 'That's also prayer.' He smiled faintly, the morning sun on his face. 'The Rebbe said precisely that. You are following the party line, Asher Lev. But we know it is not the same thing, don't we?
Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev
I cannot pray. I talk to God through my sculpture and painting.' 'That's also prayer.' He smiled faintly, the morning sun on his face. 'The Rebbe said precisely that. You are following the party line, Asher Lev. But we know it is not the same thing, don't we?
It would have made me a whore to leave it incomplete. It would have made it easier to leave future work incomplete. It would have made it more and more difficult to draw upon that additional aching surge of effort that is always the difference between integrity and deceit in a created work.
Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev
It would have made me a whore to leave it incomplete. It would have made it easier to leave future work incomplete. It would have made it more and more difficult to draw upon that additional aching surge of effort that is always the difference between integrity and deceit in a created work.
It was then that it came, though I think it had been coming for a long time and I had been choking it and hoping it would die. But it does not die. It kills you first. I knew there would be no other way to do it. No one says you have to paint ultimate anguish and torment. But if you are driven to paint it, you have no other way.
Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev
It was then that it came, though I think it had been coming for a long time and I had been choking it and hoping it would die. But it does not die. It kills you first. I knew there would be no other way to do it. No one says you have to paint ultimate anguish and torment. But if you are driven to paint it, you have no other way.
I do not sculpt and paint to make the world sacred. I sculpt and paint to give permanence to my feelings about how terrible the world truly is. Nothing is real to me except my own feelings; nothing is true except my own feelings as I see them all around me in my sculptures and paintings. I know these feelings are true, because if they were not true they would make art that is as terrible as the world.
Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev
I do not sculpt and paint to make the world sacred. I sculpt and paint to give permanence to my feelings about how terrible the world truly is. Nothing is real to me except my own feelings; nothing is true except my own feelings as I see them all around me in my sculptures and paintings. I know these feelings are true, because if they were not true they would make art that is as terrible as the world.
Did I know that the reason Hitler had been able to slaughter six million Jews without too much complaint from the world was that for two thousand years the world had been taught that Jews, not Romans, had killed that man?
Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev
Did I know that the reason Hitler had been able to slaughter six million Jews without too much complaint from the world was that for two thousand years the world had been taught that Jews, not Romans, had killed that man?
Can you understand what it means for something to be incomplete? my mother had once asked me. I understood, I understood.
Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev
Can you understand what it means for something to be incomplete? my mother had once asked me. I understood, I understood.
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Other quotes in personality

An artist is a person first.
Chaim Potok My Name Is Asher Lev
An artist is a person first.
Does it help if we're so strong-willed, stubborn, ambitious, and selfish that we always overcome everything in our way no matter what? asked Wang-mu.I think those are the pertinent virtues, yes, said Peter.Then let's do it. That's us in spades.
Orson Scott Card Children of the Mind
Does it help if we're so strong-willed, stubborn, ambitious, and selfish that we always overcome everything in our way no matter what? asked Wang-mu.I think those are the pertinent virtues, yes, said Peter.Then let's do it. That's us in spades.
There were some people, it seemed, who were incapable of being pleasant about anything. Of course, the cars that such people drove tended to be difficult as well. Nice cars have nice drivers; bad cars have bad drivers. A person's gearbox revealed everything that you could want to know about that person, thought Mr J.L.B. Matekoni.
Alexander McCall Smith The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
There were some people, it seemed, who were incapable of being pleasant about anything. Of course, the cars that such people drove tended to be difficult as well. Nice cars have nice drivers; bad cars have bad drivers. A person's gearbox revealed everything that you could want to know about that person, thought Mr J.L.B. Matekoni.
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