"My mother had an expression which struck me as a meanspirited put-down, but rather accurate: In Yiddish: 'A kee gayt tzum Kiev, un kimt fun Kiev, un blaybt a kee.'"
"Perhaps I am being too hard on myself, but in retrospect, I find it hard to believe that my life through the late 30s seemed largely unaffected (and unaware) by what was going on in the world."