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

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.

Two hundred or more years ago most people on the planet were never aware of any reality other than the one into which they were brought up.

I have faith in the Torah. I am not afraid of truth.

A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life.

It's not a pretty world, Papa.' 'I've noticed,' my father said softly.

Honest differences of opinion should never be permitted to destroy a friendship.