My ambition really was, even as a child, to be a writer, a commentator, and a teacher, but a teacher of Talmud.

When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.

Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.

When I see what is happening all over the world today - the violence - the stupid, arrogant, grotesque violence that is dominating humankind. I cannot not remember that there were other times, of course [the Second World War]. I never compare.

Even if people tell me they have historical proof [that it is not historical], that doesn't really bother me.

The term is piqua nevish [?] it means to save a soul, to save a life. And that commandment supersedes all others. It means literally you may violate almost everything except, I think, three commandments of the heart, 613, - you may do anything, violate any commandment and the injunction simply to save a human life. And there are enough lives to be saved in - in Tibet.

My God was never happiness, but to understand and be understood.