“It occurs to hi that what he has failed to impart through wisdom, he may well have imparted through stupidity.”

“It would be a terrible mistake to go through life thinking that people are the sum total of what you see.”

“I may not be old but I’m too old to have this much nothing”

“I whispered to Dad during Rosh Hashanah services, "Do you believe in God?" "Not really," he said. "No.""Then why do we come here?"He sucked thoughfully on his Tums tablet and put his arm around me, draping me under his musty woolen prayer shawl, and then shrugged. "I've been wrong before," he said.And that pretty much summed up what theology there was to find in the Foxman home.”

“Forgiveness has its comforts, but it can never give you back what you've lost.”

“You have to look at what you have right in front of you, at what it could be, and stop measuring it against what you've lost.”

“You swear you’ll never become your parents. You listen to edgy music, you dress young and hip, you have sex standing up and on kitchen tables, you say “fuck” and “shit” a lot, and then one day, without warning, their words emerge from your mouth like long-dormant sleeper agents suddenly activated. You’re still young enough to hear these words through the ears of the teenager sitting beside you, and you realize how pitiful and ultimately futile your efforts will be, a few measly sandbags against the tidal wave of genetic destiny.”