... an artist is a person first. He is an individual. If there is no person, there is no artist.

I'm constantly revising. Once the book is written and typed, I go through the entire draft again.

Oh, it makes a difference, I thought. And if it doesn't make a difference you will make it make a difference.

My name is Asher Lev... I am a traitor, an apostate, a self-hater, an inflicter of shame upon my family, my friends, my people; also, I am a mocker of ideas sacred to Christians, a blasphemous manipulator of modes and forms revered by Gentiles for two thousand years.

Seeds must be sown everywhere. Only some will bear fruit. But there would not be the fruit from the few had the many not been sown

No one knows he is fortunate until he becomes unfortunate, that's the way the world is.

It is impossible to fuse totally with a culture for which you feel a measure of antagonism.