How we cite our quotes: Story Number.Paragraph
Quote #1
A stroke of good luck doesn't take brains or ability. But should it be the other way around—God forbid, you can talk until you are blue in the face, and it will do as much good as last winter's snow. (2.1)
The upshot of Tevye's faith always seems to be that there is no personal responsibility—whatever happens, that's what God wanted to happen, so there's no reason to try to figure out how actions interconnect with each other or who is at fault. Since mostly the person at fault is Tevye, that does seem like the way to go for him.
Quote #2
Oh what a numbskull I was, I thought. I always was a pauper and I would always remain a pauper. God had arranged this encounter, something that happens maybe once in a hundred years—and I didn't settle on a price beforehand. What was I going to get out of it? I was acting according to fairness, decency, righteousness, and law, according to edict, and according to anything I could think of under the sun. But even so, what would have been the harm in earning a little something while I was at it? (2.41)
Tevye sure is quick to chalk up his failures to religious/deeply humanist/philosophical beliefs.
Quote #3
"If he thinks he's buying our milk cow, he might as well take a stick and knock that idea out of his head. […] It's a shame to sell her to be slaughtered, a pity on a living creature. It is written in the sacred Torah—"
"Oh, enough with the Torah, Tevye! Everybody knows you're a man of the Torah. Listen to me, your wife." (4.6-8)
There are only a couple of moments where Golde calls Tevye out on his nonsense with the constant Torah quotes and references. It's pretty great actually, since he usually uses the Torah as an avoidance strategy for dealing with whatever the newest crisis is—and here, Golde is all, dude, listen to the person who is actually paying attention.
Quote #4
[…] whenever I feel miserable and wretched, I pour my heart out to the ruler of the universe about the way he deals with me. He is a merciful Father. He has pity on me, but He also turns against me, may I not be published for these words. I try to reason with Him as with a father, but you might as well cry out to the heavens! […] He is high above, and we are here below, forever bound to the earth on which we lie, so we must say that He is right and that His judgment is just. [Who am I] to confront Him with my foolish reasoning to try to give Him advice on how to run His little world? I'm no more than a worm crawling on the earth." (4.93-94)
So, this is pretty much Tevye's whole deal with God, summed up right here. Basically, Tevye is always trying to play the part of innocent ol' Job in their relationship. (Check out "Symbols" for a refresher on that little story.) Sure is a convenient comparison for Tevye to make.
Quote #5
[Perchik] did have this virtue: once he started talking, it was a passionate, unstoppable stream, like fire and water. What a tongue—not to be stopped! He spoke out against God, against the Messiah, and against injustice […] For instance, a rich man, according to his backward reasoning, was less worthy than a poor man, who to him was a jewel. A man who was a worker was beyond estimation because he worked.
"That's all well and good," I said, "but will that get you any money?"
He became angry and tried to convince me that money was the root of all evil. (5.41-43)
This is a neat little way of showing the difference between Perchik and Tevye's views on economic reality. Tevye is working with practical knowledge. Basically, he's happy to be inside the capitalist system, however unfair it is to him personally. Perchik on the other hand is working with theory and idealism.
Quote #6
"Tell me, is it so complicated? It seems to me that with God's help, I understand far more complicated things."
"It's not something you can understand with your mind alone. This is something you must feel, feel with your heart," Hodl said to me, her face shining and her eyes glowing. These daughters of mine, I tell you, when they get involved in something, it is with body and soul and heart! (5.105-106)
If you didn't know what Hodl was talking about here—what would you guess it was? Probably something like love, or some new religious thing, right? The whole bit about not understanding with just your head but also needing your heart to feel the thing? That's the language of conversion, basically. Which is interesting given that what she has converted into is the totally non-religious socialist/Marxist movement that Perchik is a part of.
Quote #7
I sprang down from the wagon so quickly, I nearly broke apart. By the time I got to the pond it was too late. What did I want to ask you? Yes! Have you ever seen a drowned person? Never? When a person dies, most of the time he dies with his eyes shut. A drowned person's eyes are open. Do you know why? Forgive me for taking up so much of your time. I too am busy. I have to tend to my horse and deliver my goods. The world remains a world. And you must also think of earning money—and to forget what has been, because what the earth has covered up must, they say, be forgotten, and if you are a living human being, you cannot spit out your soul. (7.140-141)
You know why this is a super-significant paragraph? Because this is the hardest, most unbearable thing that happens to Tevye, and he completely avoids any Torah quotations when talking about it. The drowning suicide is just too raw, too close, and too emotionally fraught to be put at arm's length with some semi-appropriate midrash.
Quote #8
If you have some time to spare, listen to remarkable happenings, but listen carefully—as it says in the chapter, I pray thee, hear me. And when you have heard me out, you will say that a man is no more than an ass and that we have a powerful God who runs the world as He sees fit. (9.2)
As always, Tevye is on the same religious theme—the Job theme, a.k.a. man is not only way less powerful than God, but man also has almost no free will, since whatever happens, happens because God wanted it to. And also, you're going to hush up and like it.
Quote #9
God protect us, because if God so wills it, the wheel turns, and everything falls upside down. (9.8)
Now this is some Alanis-Morissette-style irony here. Let's parse out what this little snippet is saying. Okay, so, God is way unpredictable but still whatever He says goes. Most of the time what goes is that whoever is up comes crashing back down. But there's not really anyone to ask for protection from God... except God himself. Actually, it's less like Alanis Morrissette and more like, you know, the Mafia.
Quote #10
You don't argue with God or give Him advice on how to run the world. As He says, The heavens are mine and the earth is mine—which means He is the boss and we must obey him. What He says is said! (9.39)
Okay, well, we can kind of see the comfort in thinking that God is behind everything, when "everything" happens to be your family being ethnically cleansed.