I know as a writer how valuable a tool is the wastebasket. Perhaps God throws away many experiments before He finds the right expression. Perhaps we are the discards - or we could be the part He keeps. This mystery is what keeps us all going, to see what happens in the next chapter.

All is foreseen but the choice is given.

We write not only for children but also for their parents. They, too, are serious children.

When a writer tries to explain too much, he's out of time before he begins.

Whenever I'm in trouble, I pray. And because I'm in trouble all of the time, I pray almost constantly.

Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters.

There is a quiet humor in Yiddish and a gratitude for every day of life, every crumb of success, each encounter of love... In a figurative way, Yiddish is the wise and humble language of us all, the idiom of a frightened and hopeful humanity.