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She laughed enough to migrate an entire flock of birds. That was how she said yes.

Jonathan Safran Foer

I tried the key in all the doors, even though he said he didn’t recognize it. It’s not that I didn’t trust him, becuase I did. It’s that at the end of my search I wanted to be able to say: I don’t know how I could have tried harder.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Hard Key Myself Trust Try
Every moment before this one depends on this one.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Depend Moments Oneself
The only thing more painful than being an active forgetter is to be an inert rememberer.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Active Forget Pain Remember
You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Happiness Philosophy Protect Sadness Yourself
Every night before putting her to sleep, Yankel counts her ribs, as if one might have disappeared in the course of the day and become the seed and soil for some new companion to steal her away from him.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Appearance Himself Night Sleep Steal
We often use technology to save time, but increasingly, it either takes the saved time along with it, or makes the saved time less present, intimate and rich. I worry that the closer the world gets to our fingertips, the further it gets from our hearts.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Heart Intimate Myself Often Present Rich Save Technology Time
I try not to remember the life that I didn’t want to lose but lost and have to remember,
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Life Lose Myself Remember Try
I was of the opinion that the past is past, and like all that is not now it should remain buried along the side of our memories.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Bury Memories Opinion Ourselves Past Remain Side
Tomorrow was over the horizon, and would take an entire day to reach.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Day Future Horizon Reach
We had everything to say to each other, but no ways to say it.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Each Other Talk Way Word
There are only some many times you can utter “It does not hurt” before it begins to hurt even more than the hurt.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Beginning Hurt Time Yourself
Just 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.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Adult Cry Deserve Development Function Home Ourselves People World
He promised us that everything would be okay. I was a child, but I knew that everything would not be okay. That did not make my father a liar. It made him my father.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Children Deep Family Father Lying Myself Parents Promise
She laughed enough to migrate an entire flock of birds. That was how she said yes.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Bird Herself Laughter Migrate
Worthy would-be worlds of words, whorls of working wonder.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Wonder Word Work World Worth
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

Empty Feeling Myself Stone
Silently the animal catches our glance. The animal looks at us, and whether we look away or not, we are exposed. Whether we change our lives or do nothing, we have responded. To do nothing is to do something.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Animal Change Expose Live Respond Silence
I have no need for the past, I thought, like a child. I did not consider that the past might have a need for me.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Children Myself Need Past
Do you eat chicken because you are familiar with the scientific literature on them and have decided that their suffering doesn’t matter, or do you do it because it tastes good?
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Decision Eat Goodness Literature Suffering Taste Yourself
Not responding is a response–we are equally responsible for what we don’t do. In the case of animal slaughter, to throw your hands in the air is to wrap your fingers around a knife handle.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Equality Fingers Respond Responsibility Throw Yourself
Sadness of not knowing enough words to [express what you mean].
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Enough Expression One Liner Sadness Word
She extended a hand that I didn’t know how to take, so I broke its fingers with my silence.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Break Fingers Hands Herself Silence
We believed in our grandmother’s cooking more fervently than we believed in God.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Believe Cook God
Fiction works when it makes a reader feel something strongly.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Feeling Fiction Reading Strong Work
Highs and lows make you feel that things matter, but they’re nothing.” “So what’s something?” “Being reliable is something. Being good.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Feeling Goodness Reliable Trust
I felt suddenly shy. I was not used to shy. I was used to shame. Shyness is when you turn your head away from something you want. Shame is when you turn your head away from something you do not want.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Difference Emotion Feeling Shame Shy Yourself
I imagine a line, a white line, painted on the sand and on the ocean, from me to you.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Imagination Myself Ocean Yourself

She laughed enough to migrate an entire flock of birds. That was how she said yes.

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She laughed enough to migrate an entire flock of birds. That was how she said yes.

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