How can one explain the attraction terror holds for some minds — and why for intellectuals? . . .In a totalitarian and terrorist regime, man is no longer a unique being with infinite possibilities and limitless choices but a number, a puppet, with just this difference — numbers and puppets are not susceptible to fear.

There is much to be done, there is much that can be done... one person of integrity can make a difference.

Just as man cannot live without dreams, he cannot live without hope. If dreams reflect the past, hope summons the future.

One can do without solutions. Only the questions matter. We may share them or turn away from them.

It was like a page torn from a history book, from some historical novel about the captivity of babylon or Spanish Inquisition.

"Am I my brother's keeper?" There you have the whole Biblical understanding that you are your brother's keeper. You also have a whole other understanding in which you are not your brother's keeper. And I've heard some extremely bright people take this position.

I come from a tradition - from the Jewish tradition, which believes in words, in language, in communication.