Words never mean what we want them to mean.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER
Jonathan Safran Foer on meaning
Jonathan Safran Foer176 quotes“Words never mean what we want them to mean.”
More from Jonathan Safran Foer
With writing, we have second chances.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer Sadness of not knowing enough words to [express what you mean].
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer Why are you leaving me? He wrote, I do not know how to live. I do not know either but I am trying. I do not know how to try. There were some things I wanted to tell him. But I knew they would hurt him. So i buried them and let them hurt me
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer Please be truthful, but also please be benevolent, please.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer Memory was supposed to fill the time, but it made time a hole to be filled.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer I thought for a minute, and then I got heavy, heavy boots.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer Everything I did, I did because I thought it was the correct thing to do, I am not a hero, it is true, But I am not a bad person, either.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer 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 FoerJonathan Safran Foer Am I such a bad person for dreaming of a world that ends when I do? I don’t mean the world ending with respect to me, but every set of eyes closing with mine.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer She let out a laugh, and then she put her hand over her mouth, like she was angry at herself for forgetting her sadness.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer It is not a thing that you can imagine. It only is. After that, there can be no imagining.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer The French, who love their dogs, sometimes eat their horses. The Spanish, who love their horses, sometimes eat their cows. The Indians, who love their cows, sometimes eat their dogs.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer Tomorrow was over the horizon, and would take an entire day to reach.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer I shook my tambourine the whole time, because it helped me remember that even though I was going through different neighborhoods, I was still me.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer We are not long-term beings. Not heroes of romances in many volumes. For one gesture, for one word alone, we shall make the effort. We openly admit: our creations will be temporary. We shall have this as our aim: a gesture.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer Food serves two parallel purposes: it nourishes and it helps you remember. Eating and storytelling are inseparable-the saltwater is also tears; the honey not only tastes sweet, but makes us think of sweetness; the matzo is the bread of our affliction.
Jonathan Safran FoerJonathan Safran Foer
Original quotes
From our community writers
Sadness shoots a bullet straight at your heart and love buys you time.
Shelby CaudleShelby Caudle Do you think it possible that some people are born to give more love than they will ever get back in return?
Tyler Knott GregsonTyler Knott Gregson It’s been a long time since we said goodbye and yet the echoes of it are still ringing in our ears.
Ranata SuzukiRanata Suzuki In this wilderness, Mankind is the animal I fear.
Addison SchmittAddison Schmitt We can always walk with them in the rain instead of just lending an umbrella.
Leon MarshLeon Marsh Flowers only wither to bloom again. So shall you break, only to be whole again.
Fareena AliyaFareena Aliya What do you do when the passion burns out? Start another fire.
Jonny OxJonny Ox To love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds.
Bell HooksBell Hooks
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More on meaning
Whatever befalls us has its meaning; though it is often hard to grasp. In the Book of Life every page has two sides. On the upper one, we inscribe our plans, dreams and hopes; the reverse is filled by providence, whose verdicts rarely match our desire.
Nizami GanjaviNizami Ganjavi You are enough. Your life has meaning. Your emptiness are valid. You matter.
Hanna ShebarHanna Shebar Do you know that the harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same thing? Nothing that has meaning is easy,”Easy” doesn’t enter into grown-up life.
Michael CaineMichael Caine Without the existence of the opposite, the concept has no meaning.
Stephenie MeyerStephenie Meyer I’m afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning.
Andy WarholAndy Warhol My first language, the true language of the soul spoken only on our planet of origin, had no word for betrayal or traitor. Or even loyalty- because without the opposite, the concept had no meaning.
Stephenie MeyerStephenie Meyer A situation is always comic if it participates simultaneously in two series of events which are absolutely independent of each other, and if it can be interpreted in two quite different meanings.
Henri BergsonHenri Bergson When somebody tells you they’re not very smart, they’re saying exactly the opposite.
Tim AllenTim Allen