I have one talent, and that is the capacity to be tremendously surprised, surprised at life, at ideas. This is to me the supreme Hasidic imperative: Don't be old. Don't be stale.

When I marched with Martin Luther King in Selma, I felt my legs were praying.

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.

The test of love is in how one relates not to saints and scholars but to rascals.

He who is satisfied has never truly craved, and he who craves for the light of God neglects his ease for ardor.

To abstain completely from all enjoyments may be easy. Yet to enjoy life and retain spiritual integrity - there is the challenge.

The hour calls for moral grandeur and spiritual audacity.