I am determined to give the Yiddish language a fighting chance to survive.

On the stage you're there, it's live. There's a beginning, a middle, an end. When something is funny you hear it right away.

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

While we all could agree that the Zionist ideal is alive and well, there is serious doubt whether the Zionist movement can be said to be an ongoing proposition, fragmented as its components are in ideology and in practice.

An actor is supposed to emulate life. Instead, alas, many are imitating other actors. You don't fashion your knowledge of theatre or your approach to a role on the basis of what other actors have done. This kind of thinking is a great danger, especially in dealing with TV producers who frequently say things like, 'This is a Sean Connery type.'

I tried for a while to be an agricultural worker and was hopelessly bored. To me it was meaningless. I would stand around in heaps of manure and sings about the beauty of the work I wasn't doing.

I'm exceedingly proud of being an actor, but I never recommend it to anyone.