His struggle for a bare living left him no time to take advantage of the public evening school. In time he learned to read, to follow a conversation or lecture; but he never learned to write correctly; and his pronunciation remains extremely foreign to this day.

The apex of my civic pride and personal contentment was reached on the bright September morning when I entered the public school.

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.

Among the liveliest of my memories are those of eating and drinking; and I would sooner give up some of my delightful remembered walks, green trees, cool skies, and all, than to lose my images of suppers eaten on Sabbath evenings at the end of those walks.

A long past vividly remembered is like a heavy garment that clings to your limbs when you would run.

There is never a Jewish community without its scholars, but where Jews may not be both intellectuals and Jews, they prefer to remain Jews.

The past was only my cradle, and now it cannot hold me, because I am grown too big.