The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl, Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl. the Cantor's Son Quotes

“Who could guess he’d have a tooth pulled by Shmelke the healer and lie down the next morning and die? It’s as my mother says: “Tomorrow is another day—but whose?”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Not that I’m waiting with bated breath for your presents. I need your diamond brooches and bracelets like last year’s snow.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“As my mother says, there’s no need to show the beaten dog a stick….”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“My brother-in-law—may my life be as long as his was short!—has died of the toothache. Of course, his health wasn’t too good before that.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“I hope you and your partners have more luck than we have water in our river.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“But you know what my mother says: “With the right kind of luck you can break your nose falling on grass …”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“How does the saying go? “Earning less and sleeping well is earning best.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“But it’s as my mother, bless her, says: When a madman breaks a window, it’s never his own….”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Stay at home,” says my mother, “and you won’t wear out your boots!”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“You know what a clever woman my mother is. “What good,” she says to me, “are all his promises of tablecloths and handkerchiefs when he should be sending you cash? The Angel of Death doesn’t wait for a man to buy his shrouds…”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Thinking of the dead,” says my mother, “makes you wonder about the living …”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Well, to quote my mother, a worm lies in horseradish and thinks there’s nothing sweeter.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Nothing lasts forever. And no one is ever satisfied. We’re tired of going from door to door for kvawdehz and nikelz. Better your own slice of bread than the next man’s loaf.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“As my mother says, “God is a father. He punishes with one hand and heals with the other.” That’s something I don’t get. Why punish and then heal? You could save yourself the trouble by skipping both.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“My friend Mendl and I once ate three haht dawgz apiece and could have polished off a few more if we had the cash …but that’s not what I wanted to tell you.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“The sky is the limit. Not even Kahnegi, Vendehbilt, or Rahknfelleh knew how far they would go.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Meh onu umeh khayeynu—what do folks like us count? Moshul kekheres hanishbor—we’re just so much scrap in their eyes. Except that real scrap isn’t thrown away so easily …”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Pinye said Canada was in Canada. To be exact, it was in America. That is, Canada and America were the same place, with a difference”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“I don’t care what I’ll be in America. I just want to get there. I’m dying to see the place. I’ve made up my mind to learn three things there: swimming, writing, and cigar smoking. I mean I can do all three already. But I’ll do them better in America.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Why not teach him a trade?” Pinye says. “Americans work with their hands.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Everyone is going to America and no one has a way of getting there. Some folks have been sent back to Russia. Some have found work in Lemberg. Some have been sent on to Cracow.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Being compared to a Russian pogromchik didn’t faze that German as much as hearing Brody called Sodom. Did he fly off the handle! The Russians, he said, had the right idea. If you asked him, there should be more pogroms.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“Who says you need luck to be lucky?” my mother answered, looking at me. Search me what that means.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“When the chicken fat runs out, all that’s left is an empty hole.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“There’s never been, she says, a wedding like it. The pastries, the roasts, the tortes, the honey cakes, the strudels, the breads, the jams and the jellies—all for her wedding! Now the wedding is over and Brokheh owns a fur stole and a noodle sieve.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“If I were the Tsar I’d eat nothing but bread and watermelon all year round. I don’t even mind the seeds. Give your melon a shake and they fall right out and you can eat all you want. Boy oh boy!”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“And what’s more fun than a market full of melons? Wherever you look, there’s a honeydew or a watermelon”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“All the bakers had banded together. They said he had to take back the workers he had fired and meet all three of their demands: (1) A ruble raise; (2) Sleeping-at-home rights; (3) No more knocking out teeth. It”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“My mother spoke about being a widow with two sons, one swimming in chicken fat and the other the poor little fellow sitting next to her.”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son

“We were brought hot, delicious coffee and fresh butter rolls. Have you ever eaten sugared egg cookies? That’s how good those rolls were. Maybe better. And the coffee! I can’t begin to describe it. A taste of Paradise!”
― Sholom Aleichem, The Letters of Menakhem-Mendl and Sheyne-Sheyndl and Motl, the Cantor's Son