I took to religion at about age 12; it was very hard for me to be Sabbath observant as a kid in a home which was not Sabbath observant. I think my parents thought the whole Jewish thing was a phase.

I have a principle I often invoke in class: comfortable people don't grow. Good teachers need to engage in the paradox of making students feel comfortable and uncomfortable in equal measure.

If we are indeed created in God's image, then we, too, must create and then we, too, must rest.

For some reason, I write about crash-landed spaceships quite a lot and my wife is sick of hearing of hearing my ideas for new tales about them.

I love lighting Shabbat candles at the onset of Shabbat. It helps me create a strong and firm demarcation of time.

For me, study is a divine and daily imperative, and I study a page of Talmud daily so that I am not only teaching. My teaching is constantly being fed by my learning.

If our writing is worth anything at all, then we have to put ourselves into it.

That's true of every form of literature - each writer brings new things to it because each of us is an individual.

I love space opera, and I believe that every sub-genre has potential no matter how old it is.

In order to survive, the human race must defend itself.

I love going to synagogue on Friday night and being swept in the melodies. Everyone seems more friendly and unburdened by the week and ready to be taken elsewhere.

We are who people think we are. The reality is irrelevant.

If you would listen, sir, in the sense of being aware of your conflicts and contradictions without forcing them into any particular pattern of thought, perhaps they might altogether cease.

I really didn't think about song writing.

He is accelerating all the time. That last lap was run in 64 seconds and the one before in 62.

The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself.

No great thing is created suddenly. There must be time. Give your best and always be kind.

An oath-the strongest of religious ties.

Nobody expects you to exhibit godlike strength, excepting maybe yourself.

It took me three years to learn to dress in the American way, especially in winter. That was just like me. I barely wear socks even now.

I'm having the same problems today that I had when I first started, saying that outrageous adult animation works.