Audiences are audiences.

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.

Hope-it was a fire that lit the soul, a belief in both the impossible and in everything imaginable, the budding anticipation of joy, waiting with each breath.

There’s nothing more daring than showing up, putting ourselves out there and letting ourselves be seen.

The litmus test of our love for God is our love of neighbor.

Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. You don't have to like it... it's just easier if you do.

Love was in the air, so both of us walked through love on our way to the corner.

If you don't know it, don't write it.

The magic that works, to me, is the magic that feels completely grounded and real and tangible.

The less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the flag.

Living, we fret. Dying, we live. I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll be of good cheer.

True artists are prophets. I don't want to be that prophetic in that sense because it's so lonely.