Vodka has a huge history in Russia, in that it's almost like a currency. It's the one thing that keeps the country in the dark ages and having a rollicking good time.

Reading is entering into the consciousness of another human being.

The love I felt for her on that train ride had a capital and provinces, parishes and a Vatican, an orange planet and many sullen moons -- it was systemic and it was complete.

If you stop thinking, if you stop wondering, you die.

The fading light is us, and we are, for a moment so brief (...) beautiful.

Good fiction makes me turn off all the other parts of my brain, so that I become quiet and submissive, entirely at the mercy of the work at hand.

She took my hand and pulled me after her, her shoulders giving off a sweet peppermint concoction that the bodies of young women sometimes produce to make my life more difficult.

If my mother hadn't tried to sell me chicken Kiev cutlets for $1.40 after I graduated from college, maybe I would've been the lawyer she wanted me to be.

You are not what you want. You are what wants you back.

Forget the fountain of youth, pal of mine. You can live to be a thousand, and it won't matter. Mediocrities like you deserve immortality.

If you read only one memoir by a disaffected, urban, 20-something Jewish girl this year, make it this one. Shukert rocks the lulav.

Life is totally unbelievable. Enjoy it at its fullest, with no regrets.

If we walk steadily and faithfully...God will lift us up to greater things.

Conflict occurs everywhere except in the cemetery. Everyone experiences conflict except the dead. Thankful for being alive...

I'm known as a recruiter. Well you've got to have chicken to make chicken salad.

I want to protect and preserve social security and Medicare.

Not long ago someone said I should shorten it to just Emma. But I really, really love my name. From as far as I can remember, my parents have taught me to be really proud of my name.

If we are to move towards our collective bliss, it's time we shed our focus on the physical.

When is black America going to forgive white America for slavery?

As much as I don't want to admit it, I really am a people pleaser. If I throw a party at my house, it's hard for me to relax. I'm too obsessed with whether everyone's having a good time.

Fierce invectives against women form a conspicuous and grotesque portion of the writings of the Church fathers.