“Writing is the tool by which we transmit information. What makes you a reporter is the quest, is the hunt.”

“I think we might all be like children again. We could get help with making up the game, unless that’s an essential part of the fun. But the playing it seems we will have to do ourselves.”

“I may not like that I'm made of the same stuff as Donald Trump, but it's indisputable.”

“Perhaps because I became frum as a child, warmth, care, and love became more important factors than philosophical hair splitting and endless argumentation.“

“The next day, my father and I flew home, and a week or two later, my dad called and said Izu had passed away. That was the last time I ever had a conversation with my grandfather. And I really think it informed every decision I've made in my life since.”

“I was in a couple of situations where I thought I might be executed. The civil wars in West Africa are very paranoid, drug-soaked affairs with child soldiers. Very, very crazy. There were a couple of times where I really thought, ‘Oh, this is it.’”

“I've done a hundred plus interviews for the book — no matter what I’ve done — I interviewed the founder of Al-Qaeda's brother, I've gotten beat up by Antifa — I've done all this stuff in my life. And the only thing everybody universally says is, ‘Oh, you have the best hair award from Denver in 2007.’“

“The island where my dad was born called Nisyros. There’s a little bit of tourism, but it has a population of 600 people in the off season. Most people wouldn't have heard of it but it’s wonderful. It's an active volcano off the coast of Turkey.”

“So game four, the Red Sox had lost three games in a row to the Yankees — the third game, 19 to 8 at Fenway. So it's 3-0. I'm in Kosovo, and I'm getting up every night at 2:00 A.M. to watch these games.”

“It's astonishing that approximately three pounds of matter stores the fact that Ted Kluszewski, in the 1950s, first baseman for the Reds, three times hit 40 or more home runs and struck out fewer than 40 times.”

“I know that cognitive behavioral therapy could actually help me — that's why I don't want to do it. I want to talk about my mom and dad.”

“Whenever I cross the Mason-Dixon line, I feel far more comfortable because the first woman at the convenience store who calls me ‘darlin’’ immediately makes the Israeli in me feel at home.”

“And yes, I'm called the member for the 18th century, which I always enjoyed. I took as a compliment because I think you learn from your history.”

“We are direct. We are frank. And I think it's something to do with the fact that we are all immigrants who left much of our traditional cultures behind. All our ancestors came from somewhere else — a bit like Americans in a sense.”

‘I think that a lot of people probably are too conventional. I just have an antenna for where I disagree with people who are kind of similar to me. I'll push on those things.”

“I still don't like watching horror movies, but fuck, man, do I like being in them. Being evil was somehow captivating to me and using my physicality in a menacing way and being covered in blood and filth. It was all a lot of fun.”

“Everybody has a pattern of moles on their back or something like…you might want to see the pattern of moles on my back, but do I really care that the pattern of moles on Churchill's back is different than anybody else’s? Well, what's the point?”

“I think I've always been more interested in small towns, and hidden things, and the culture in those places.”

“I don't think we're, by nature, baby-kissers, but he taught me to listen to constituents and be interested in their views. He believed in civility and was not overly partisan.”

“I expect to die from this.”