28 Quotes by Arthur Hertzberg

I have never been a dove because I'm some kind of woolly-eyed liberal. I have been a dove from the very early period, because I recognized that the Palestinians weren't going to go away, and they weren't going to remain passive. And all of these predictions were correct. And we'd better now act on them and make peace.

I think on the question of this war President - if he's a war President, I'm the commander of the American Air Force.

Do the Americans want democracy in the Middle East? Do the Americans want the oil wells of Iraq and of Saudi Arabia controlled by regimes which are revolutionary, and which are Islamic fundamentalist? Mr. Bush wants that like he wants a hole in the head.

I regard Christian and Jewish fundamentalism, and all other forms of fundamentalism, as the enemies of God - and I hope you'll quote me on that.

I argue that the Talmud is about the constant struggle to understand.

You save your soul by saving someone else’s body.

But, I know enough people in that court, through the years, to know one thing: There’s always somebody who surprises you, who rises above what they thought they appointed him for, and stays with the separation of powers, and with the right of the law to decide.

On campuses, and when I speak to the younger intelligentsia, I am getting a hunger for the text – the authentic text for Jewish knowledge.

In mid-career, I was at one and the same time the rabbi of a major congregation, writing books, and teaching at Columbia. I didn’t spend enough time with my children. Now, when I get an all-important call, I sometimes say that I’m having lunch with my granddaughter. And I do not apologize.