We could imagine all sorts of universes unlike this one, but this is the one that happened.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOERJust to be a functioning adult in the world, we develop all of these layers of protection. When we see homeless people, we don’t cry, even though homeless people probably deserve our tears – you know, it’s a horrible thing.
More Jonathan Safran Foer Quotes
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She wanted more, more slang, more figures of speech, the bee’s knees, the cats pajamas, horse of a different color, dog-tired, she wanted to talk like she was born here, like she never came from anywhere else
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER -
Cruelty depends on an understanding of cruelty, and the ability to choose against it. Or to choose to ignore it.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER -
No matter how much I feel, I’m not going to let it out. If I have to cry, I’m gonna cry on the inside. If I have to bleed, I’ll bruise. If my heart starts going crazy, I’m not gonna tell everyone in the world about it. It doesn’t help anything. It just makes everyone’s life worse.
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One hundred years of joy can be erased in one second.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER -
Why didn’t I learn to treat everything like it was the last time. My greatest regret was how much I believed in the future.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER -
She was with me. She did all of those things and so many more, things I would never tell anyone, and she never even loved me. Now that’s love.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER -
Is that growing old? Or is it something worse?
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This is my heart. You are touching it with your left hand. You are touching it with your left hand, not because you are left-handed, although you might be, but because I am holding it against my heart. What you are feeling is the beating of my heart. It is what keeps me alive.
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I didn’t feel empty. I wished I’d felt empty. … I wanted to be empty like an overturned pitcher. But I was full like a stone.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER -
My life story is the story of everyone I’ve ever met.
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We spent our lives making livings.
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We talked about nothing in particular, but it felt like we were talking about the most important things.
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It was not the feeling of completeness I so needed, but the feeling of not being empty.
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It has shown me that everything is illuminated in the light of the past. It is always along the side of us…on the inside, looking out.
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But come. No explaining or mending. Be beside me somewhere.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER