this phrase was meaningless, for no matter where the Jew wandered, if he took with him the Talmud he was - James A. Michener

Here envy and lies have kept me imprisoned.
Happy the humble state of the wise man who retires from this nefarious world, and with meager table and house in the pleasant countryside passes his life alone; he serves only God, neither envied nor envious.

They know that society becomes corrupt and that men must reject it if they are to remain free. They know that life, to replenish itself, must sometimes return to the dregs, to the primitive slime. The men who stood here know that I am right, even if I can’t make you listen.

It was the Sea of Galilee, now known by its Latin name, Mare Tyberiadis, sunk in its deep depression among surrounding hills whose red and brown coloring played across the surface of the water, so that sometimes the lake was its own blue — a deep, pulsating blue of vivid quality which made the heart cry out with joy — while at other times it was red or brown or, where the trees were, green. But always its colors were in motion, a living, twisting kaleidoscope, as marvelous a body of water as there was on earth.