black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

Whether we change our lives or do nothing, we have responded. To do nothing is to do something.

Jonathan Safran Foer

You do not have to utter anything you do not want to utter,” I told her, and she said, “Then I would never utter another word again.” “You do not have to do anything that you do not want to do.” “Then I would never do anything again.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Word Yourself
When I looked at you, my life made sense. Even the bad things made sense. They were necessary to make you possible.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Life Love Necessary Possible Yourself
Is that growing old? Or is it something worse?
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Grow Up Worst
I woke up once in the middle of the night, and Buckminster’s paws were on my eyelids. He must have been feeling my nightmares.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Feeling Myself Night Nightmare Wake Up
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
I dreamt four nights ago of clock hands descending from the universe like rain, of the moon as a green eye, of mirrors and insects, of a love that never withdrew. It was not the feeling of completeness that I so needed, but the feeling of not being empty.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Complete Dreams Fantasy Feeling Myself Universe
I felt shame for living in a nation of unprecedented prosperity-a nation that spends a smaller percentage of income on food than any other civilization has in human history-but in the name of affordability treats the animals it eats with cruelty so extreme it would be illegal if inflicted on a dog.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Animal Civilization Dog Feeling Illegal Name Nation Prosperity Shame Treat
I can forgive you for leaving, but not for coming back.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Forgiveness Leave Myself Return
I took the world into me, rearranged it, and sent it back out as a question: “Do you like me?
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Arrangement Myself Question World
Tomorrow was over the horizon, and would take an entire day to reach.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Day Future Horizon Reach
I put my hand on the doorknob because I thought maybe her hand was on the doorknob on the other side.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Hands Myself Side Thinking
Ninety-nine percent of all land animals eaten or used to produce milk and eggs in the United States are factory farmed. So although there are important exceptions, to speak about eating animals today is to speak about factory farming.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Animal Eat Factory Farm Land Talk
Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Bone Hear Live Myself Time Weight
So many people enter and leave your life! Hundreds of thousands of people! You have to keep the door open so they can come in! But it also means you have to let them go!
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Leaving Let Go Life People Yourself
Sometimes you have to put your fears in order.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Fear Order Time Yourself
The philosopher Elaine Scarry has observed that “beauty always takes place in the particular.” Cruelty, on the other hand, prefers abstraction.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER

Cruelty Observation Philosophy Place

Whether we change our lives or do nothing, we have responded. To do nothing is to do something.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

Whether we change our lives or do nothing, we have responded. To do nothing is to do something.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Jonathan Safran Foer Quotes