Although I am deeply grateful to a great many people, I forgo the temptation of naming them for fear that I might slight any by omission.

No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language.

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. By what conduit do we know what we know?

I am determined to give the Yiddish language a fighting chance to survive.

I have always striven to raise the voice of hope for a world where hate gives way to respect and oppression to liberation.

By showing hunger, deprivation, starvation and brutality, as well as endurance and nobility, documentaries inform, prod our memories, even stir us to action. Such films do battle for our very soul.

I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars, banjos, fiddles and words.

All too often arrogance accompanies strength, and we must never assume that justice is on the side of the strong. The use of power must always be accompanied by moral choice.

But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel.

No doubt unity is something to be desired, to be striven for, but it cannot be willed into being by mere declarations.

After the advent of the written word, the masses who could not - or were not permitted to - read, were given sermons by the few who could.

The final lesson a writer learns is that everything can nourish the writer. The dictionary, a new word, a voyage, an encounter, a talk on the street, a book, a phrase learned.

Expertise is the mantra of modern medicine.

There is no problem so great it cannot be solved.

The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below

If South Korea is going to survive, and keep the peace on the peninsula, its citizens need to start conveying support for their state.

True success is ... the experience of the miraculous. It is the unfolding of the divinity within us.

I like to cook, walk on the beach, go to concerts and look at fine art.

How can you not have fun going around the country playing baseball for a living? Being a baseball player is the next best thing to being a rock star.

If you want to get an education in how to get a story and how to survive, then get a street reporter job in New York City.

Laughter puts your brain, your central nervous system and your whole being into a state of free play.