It is not that I belong to the past, but the past that belongs to me.

On a royal birthday every house must fly a flag, or the owner would be dragged to a police station and be fined twenty-five rubles.

You heard on all sides that the brightest Jewish children were turned down if the examining officers did not like the turn of their noses.

I have so little mastered the art of tranquil living that wherever I go I trail storm clouds of drama around me.

The czar always got his dues, no matter if it ruined a family.

There was one public school for boys, and one for girls, but Jewish children were admitted in limited numbers - only ten to a hundred; and even the lucky ones had their troubles.

You went up to be examined with the other Jewish children, your heart heavy about that matter of your nose.