I think that human beings are capable of the worst things possible and they show that there were times, and there probably are times, that it is human to be inhuman.

As for the discipline, we [me and Frank Moore Cross] belong to two different disciplines. One involves research and archaeological materials. Mine is more interpretive. But it is the love for the text that is there, and that is what makes the whole adventure of reading and studying and sharing worthwhile.

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

When I see a child who is hungry, I see a person who is humiliated.

The stars were only sparks of the fire which devoured us. Should that fire die out one day, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes.

I wrote my first book, I published it in 1955, it was in Yiddish and it was called And The World Was Silent.

In Jewish tradition the Talmud is said to have been given on Sinai.