If a man is tongue-tied, don't laugh at him, but, rather, feel pity for him, as you would for a man with broken legs.

If you study the Talmud you please God even more than you do by praying or fasting.

Above all, you must fight conceit, envy, and every kind of ill-feeling in your heart.

You must never tire fighting Satan.

Be modest, humble, simple. Control your anger.

Remember that it is not enough to abstain from lying by word of mouth; for the worst lies are often conveyed by a false look, smile, or act.

I was a great dreamer of day dreams.

Life is much shorter than I imagined it to be.

God, for example, appealed to me as a beardless man wearing a quilted silk cap; holiness was something burning, forbidding, something connected with fire while a day had the form of an oblong box.

Only the other world has substance and reality; only good deeds and holy learning have tangible worth.

The orthodox Jewish faith practically excludes woman from religious life.

When a person has cancer, the whole family really suffers with her.

We don't believe we are too sexy for our hair.

When I run barefoot, I put my shoes on my hands. Running around with shoe-hands looks a little weird.

Writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.

The act of writing... is the act of trying to understand why my opinion is what it is. And ultimately, I think that's the same experience the reader has when they pick up one of my books.

What you do for money you do badly.

I'm seeking to make sense of life, looking for its meaning and how we can have a better humanity.

If we build our military up to Ronald Reagan levels, [Vladimir] Putin's not going to push us anywhere because he can't match us.

Through great input you get great output.

In performance, you dont always feel that sort of family bond right off the top. It sort of develops and grows over time.