“Me, I've seen 45 years, and I've only figured out one thing. That's this: if a person would just make the effort, there's something to be learned from everything. From even the most ordinary, commo...”

“I didnt have the vaguest idea of what to do I couldnt keep staring at the wall forever, I told myself. But even that admonition didnt work. A faculty advisor reviewing a graduation thesis would ha...”

“For me, it was a lonely season. Whenever I got home and took off my clothes, I felt as if any second my bones would burst through my skin. Like some unknown force inside me had taken a wrong turn s...”

“We walked side by side to the station. The sweater kept me comfortable in the night air.Okay, Ill keep plugging away, she said.Wasnt much help, was I?No, actually, it took a load off me just to be ...”

“I could go on like this forever, but would I ever find a place that was meant for me? Like, for example, where? After lengthy considerations, the only place I could think of was the cockpit of a tw...”

“In any case, suffice it to say I enjoyed hearing about faraway places. I had stocked up a whole store of these places, like a bear getting ready for hibernation. Id close my eyes, and streets would...”

“There will always be reservations, things one must leave out, events one cant explain without handing over a full map of ones life, unfolding it, making clear that all the lines and contours stand ...”

“oYu begin with other people's stories and end up with your own.”

“You begin with other people's stories and end up with your own.”

“So many words get lost. They leave the mouth and lose their courage, wandering aimlessly until they are swept into the gutter like dead leaves. On rainy days, you can hear their chorus rushing past...”

“You can listen to silence, Reuven. I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own. It talks to me sometimes. I feel myself aliv...”

“Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs a considerable practice in listening.”