Mandy Patinkin

Sondheim is the Shakespeare of the musical theater world.

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In my prayers every day, which are a combination of Hebrew prayers and Shakespeare and Sondheim lyrics and things people have said to me that I've written down and shoved in my pocket, I also say the name of every person I've ever known who's passed on.

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I didn't live far from where Leopold and Loeb lived on Chicago's South Side, so I had heard about them as a kid.

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I'm a spiritual person, I'm an America, I'm a Jew, and all of those things influence every breath I take, everywhere I go.

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I desperately want to see the day today and do the best I can not miss a shred of sunlight. It'll be over before I know it.

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I grew up in Synagogue in the boys' choir. We didn't listen to music in the house; only at temple. Then I went to a mostly African American high school on the South Side of Chicago and joined a gospel choir.

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Refugees come to us seeking asylum, seeking freedom, justice and dignity - seeking a chance just to breathe. And people in our country are saying close the doors and don't let them in?

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I'm on the board of directors for Peace Now, which works tirelessly between the Palestinians and the Israelis to create peace in the Middle East and we've never been closer.

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If I have a tombstone when it's all over, it will say, 'He tried to connect.'

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During 'Chicago Hope,' I never let directors talk to me, because I was so spoiled. I started off with people like Milos Forman, Sidney Lumet, James Lapine, unbelievably gifted people. So there I was, saying, 'Don't talk to me, I don't want your opinion.' I behaved abominably.

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I've been very blessed in my personal life and in my career and I have never been ungrateful for what I have.

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Violence only perpetrates more violence, and it becomes a vicious cycle. There are political situations all over the world where there are untold acts of revenge for incidences, and thousands and thousands of lives are lost because of them.

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I'm a Jew. I'm fascinated by our culture and our history, by what made us the people we are. It influences every breath I take. It informs and guides me. Without it, I'd just be a vacuum.

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We need to learn to accept and certainly mourn any harm that comes to any human being on this earth. But we also need to not be vengeful.

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I love the idea of giving up the vengeful nature that so many of us have.

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I saw 'Hamilton' when it was at the Public, and I just wept profusely in my seat because this is a form I love deeply, and to watch it be reinvented in such a genius, gifted way and executed by such a brilliant company of human beings, I was overwhelmed with not just appreciation for the piece of work itself but for the possibility.

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I was forced to lie to my father by doctors and relatives. I made that choice and agreed with them, and I will never, ever get over it. If I hear a lie in my life with my children, with my wife, my work, my audiences, I want to annihilate myself, vaporize myself, and wipe myself off the face of the earth.

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The songs I love to sing are story songs, from Yiddish songs to Tom Waits.

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Singing in Yiddish was a great thrill for me and came about through Joe Papp, the founder of The Public Theater.

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I did not grow up singing Yiddish.

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Quotes by Mandy Patinkin