There is something about finding the balance to one's nature - perhaps a culture that flourishes is a culture that has found a similar balance among its people.

The impulse to touch her and all the life in her was something I had to check regularly.

You don't struggle with these questions?""No. But I've always thought my opinion was the right one. It's a small flaw I have.""An American flaw.

Go. Go to your beautiful dances, your beautiful ceremonies. And we will bury our dead.

You don’t realise how language actually interferes with communication until you don’t have it, how it gets in the way like an overdominant sense.

Sometimes you just find a culture that breaks your heart, ” she said finally.

He smelled of cigarettes and whiskey, the smell of Cambridge and youth.

Surely it is more civilized to kill one man every few months, hold up his head for all to behold, say his name, and return home for a feast than to slaughter nameless millions.

Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.

People think that because I write about India I must be trying to portray India in a way.

I don't mind if my skull ends up on a shelf as long as it's got my name on it.

Jews who long have drifted from the faith of their fathers... are stirred in their inmost parts when the old, familiar Passover sounds chance to fall upon their ears.

I must make up my mind which is right – society or I.

Such a system would be very, very expensive and laborious to have, given the kinds of border we have. Scientists and engineers aren't even sure they have the technology to make it work

We live in a world where amnesia is the most wished-for state. When did history become a bad word?

What is impossible with man is child's play with God.

How, given the canine teeth and close-set eyes that declare the human animal to be a predator, had we come up with the notion that oat bran is more natural to eat than chicken?

The town I grew up in was at least fifty percent Jewish, so every weekend in the 7th grade, we went to Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.