The more I learn – the more I realize the less I know.

Piece of Sky

(excerpt)

The more I live – the more I learn.
The more I learn – the more I realize
The less I know.
Each step I take-
(Papa, I’ve a voice now!)
Each page I turn-
(Papa, I’ve a choice now!)
Each mile I travel only means
The more I have to go.
What’s wrong with wanting more?
If you can fly – then soar!
With all there is – why settle for
Just a piece of sky?

singer – Barbara Streisand
the song is A Piece of Sky
from the movie Yentl (1983)
screenplay by Barbara Streisand and Jack Rosenthal
music by Michel Legrand

First, there was a book

Though I put this in the Isaac Bashevis Singer category, this is a movie quote, not a book quote.

The movie Yentl is a Hollywood adaptation of the novella, Yentl the Yeshiva boy, originally written in Yiddish by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Before being re-invented as a movie, it also had some success as a stage play.

Some feel that the book’s Yentl was transgender – transgender, in 1870′s Poland. The movie was not as edgy. The book’s Yentl continued to live as a man in Eastern Europe, and had no feminist revelation of American freedom.

The author was not a fan of the movie. The story I heard was that Singer said, incredulous, “What was Yentl going to do in New York City?” If you are curious to know more, the book’s Amazon reviews are fascinating.

And, I’m one of those mushy sentimental types. I liked the movie, singing and impossible glossiness and all… even if the book at the start of this scene is being read upside down.

Tags: Growth, Learning
Posted in Isaac Singer, Movie Quotes

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