When something is moving you get that intake of breath and that stillness from the audience.

No doubt unity is something to be desired, to be striven for, but it cannot be willed into being by mere declarations.

We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task.

I am a Zionist, an ardent supporter of Israel, its defender when I deem Israel to be right and its critic when I deem it to be wrong.

No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language.

Retiring' - within that word is 'tiring,' and I'm not tired. I don't believe in retirement, really.

In my world, history comes down to language and art. No one cares much about what battles were fought, who won them and who lost them - unless there is a painting, a play, a song or a poem that speaks of the event.