To make people laugh was almost a sickness with me.

You see how it is, my dear friends. There's no pleasing everyone. It's hopeless to even try, and the more you play the peacemaker, the less peaceful things become.

Each Jew must either give or take tzedakah [charity] for Passover.

They say that children become men, and men become children. Many generations have grown up, become men, and gone hence.

I never turn down a drink. Among friends it’s always appropriate. A man is only a man as they say, but brandy is still brandy. You’ll find that in the Talmud too.

Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.

It is an old custom amongst Jewish children, to become war-like on the 'L'ag Beomer.' They arm themselves from head to foot with wooden swords, pop-guns and bows and arrows. They take food with them, and go off to wage war.