After the advent of the written word, the masses who could not - or were not permitted to - read, were given sermons by the few who could.

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

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. By what conduit do we know what we know?

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

I have always striven to raise the voice of hope for a world where hate gives way to respect and oppression to liberation.

By showing hunger, deprivation, starvation and brutality, as well as endurance and nobility, documentaries inform, prod our memories, even stir us to action. Such films do battle for our very soul.

I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars, banjos, fiddles and words.

All too often arrogance accompanies strength, and we must never assume that justice is on the side of the strong. The use of power must always be accompanied by moral choice.

But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel.

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

I am filled with awe that filmmakers have the capacity to stir us and give us back a sense of wonder.

There is a gift in experiencing so much tragedy of life from a young age, you gain the wisdom earlier to make better choices for later.

Never underestimate the effect of well-timed silence.

... it is easier to tell someone closer to you before you tell your partner.

Return good for good; return evil with justice.

You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That's a part of it.

I really look at children as being little people and not necessarily things or people to control.

I'm a Bookchinite, and nobody has a right to claim that but me.

The pyramids, attached with age, have forgotten the names of their founders.

What you are today is the choice you made yesterday.

Perhaps the bleakest fact of all is that the death penalty is imposed not only in a freakish and discriminatory manner, but also in some cases upon defendants who are actually innocent.