“Probably 90 percent of our life decisions are powered by the twin engines of inertia and laziness.”

Very few people changed the world by sitting on their couch.

It comes back to the old question: How can the Bible be so wise in some places and so barbaric in others? And why should we put any faith in a book that includes such brutality?

I know that knowledge and intelligence are not the same thing – but they do live in the same neighborhood. I know once again, firsthand, the joy of learning.

Giulia Melucci has written a wonderfully funny and moving book. It’s like Eat, Pray, Love, with recipes.

I have little shame, no dignity – all in the name of a better cause.

I don’t believe that prayers actually change God’s mind – if there is a God – but I liked praying for people in need. It was like moral weightlifting. I tend to be self-obsessed, and it was nice to get out of my brain once in a while.

Behavior shapes emotions.

Med students panic their first year when they learn all the diseases. It’s not until the second year that they learn the cures.

Taking the Bible too literally is a mistake. It should be read as a guidebook of wisdom and insight.

I was what they call ‘skinny fat’ – a body that resembled a python after swallowing a goat.

I grew up in a very secular home with no religion at all, so I was starting from zero.

I prefer the earlier birth control techniques, which ranged from the delicious (using honey as a spermicide) to the aerobic (jumping backward seven times after coitus).

I am officially Jewish, but I’m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant.

I’ve never before been so aware of the thousands of little good things, the thousands of things that go right every day.

I love to live things, so I wanted to immerse myself and get into the mindset – and sandals – of my forefathers.

My reading list grows exponentially. Every time I read a book, it’ll mention three other books I feel I have to read. It’s like a particularly relentless series of pop-up ads.