The greatest single antidote to violence is conversation.

Religiosity turns out to be the best indicator of civic involvement: it's more accurate than education, age, income, gender or race.

Find people not to envy but to admire. Do not the profitable but the admirable deed. Live by ideals.

Jews read the books of Moses not just as history but as divine command. The question to which they are an answer is not, "What happened?" but rather, "How then shall I live?" And it's only with the exodus that the life of the commands really begins.

Religion survives because it answers three questions that every reflective person must ask. Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live?

A survey carried out across the U.S. between 2004 and 2006 showed that frequent church- or synagogue-goers are more likely to give money to charity.

Civil society rests on moral relationships. They are covenantal rather than contractual. They are brought about not by governments but by us a husbands and wives, parents, friends and citizens, and by the knowledge of what we do and what we are makes a difference to those around us. (...) Renewing society's resources of moral energy is the program, urgent but achievable.