"Jews have a special relationship to books, and the Haggadah has been translated more widely, and reprinted more often, than any other Jewish book. It is not a work of history or philosophy, not a prayer book, user's manual, timeline, poem or palimpsest - and yet it is all these things."

"Words are capable of making experience more vivid, and also of organizing it. They can scare us, and they can comfort us."

"Food is not just what we put in our mouths to fill up it is culture and identity. Reason plays some role in our decisions about food, but it's rarely driving the car."

"Kids are a great analogy. You want your kids to grow up, and you don't want your kids to grow up. You want your kids to become independent of you, but it's also a parent's worst nightmare: That they won't need you. It's like the real tragedy of parenting."

"Do not measure life by the breaths you take, but by the moments that stir your soul. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"The roots of genuine insight grow deep in the soil of quiet observation. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"The ocean of adversity cannot drown the spirit that resolves to stay afloat. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"To correct a natural indifference I was placed half-way between misery and the sun. Misery kept me from believing that all was well under the sun, and the sun taught me that history wasn't everything."