Taking the Bible too literally is a mistake. It should be read as a guidebook of wisdom and insight.
A. J. JACOBSIt’s a different way of looking at the world. Your life isn’t about rights. It’s about responsibilities.”–Mr Bill Berkowitz
More A. J. Jacobs Quotes
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Giulia Melucci has written a wonderfully funny and moving book. It’s like Eat, Pray, Love, with recipes.
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It’s hard to be in a bad mood when you’re walking around looking like you’re about to play the semifinals at Wimbledon.
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I am officially Jewish, but I’m Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant.
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Very few people changed the world by sitting on their couch.
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I grew up in a very secular home with no religion at all, so I was starting from zero.
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I thought religion would eventually wither away and we’d all be worshiping at the altar of science.
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The key to making healthy decisions is to respect your future self. Honor him or her. Treat him or her like you would treat a friend or a loved one.
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Med students panic their first year when they learn all the diseases. It’s not until the second year that they learn the cures.
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Paintings! They’re like TV, but they don’t move.
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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?
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In trying to avoid one sin I’ve committed another.
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I was what they call ‘skinny fat’ – a body that resembled a python after swallowing a goat.
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I know that you should always say yes to adventures or you’ll lead a very dull life.
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I found there were things about religion that I really loved; things like the sense of gratefulness that it brings.
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I have little shame, no dignity – all in the name of a better cause.
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The best we can do, to paraphrase Pollan, is to eat whole foods, mostly plants, and not too much.
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After decimating several vegetables, I decide juicing is my favorite form of food preparation. There’s something perversely appealing about subjecting an innocent plant to that much violence.
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After a while, if you’re committed, you start to believe in the things in which you’re praying. It’s just cognitive dissonance. You can’t live a completely religious life and not start to have it sink in.
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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.
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Its sort of my job to feel good.
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Probably 90 percent of our life decisions are powered by the twin engines of inertia and laziness.
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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).
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I’m addicted to self-improvement. The thing is, there’s so damn much about myself to improve.
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Behavior shapes emotions.
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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.
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I’m not a fan of ‘write what you know.’ If you don’t know, find out. I knew nothing about the Bible before I started writing ‘The Year of Living Biblically.’ That was kind of the point – to learn.
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