How beautiful is forgetting! What relief it would be for the world to lose some of its contents. Jonathan Safran Foer More Quotes by Jonathan Safran Foer More Quotes From Jonathan Safran Foer Or perhaps a widow found him and took him in: brought him an easy chair, changed his sweater every morning, shaved his face until the hair stopped growing, took him faithfully to bed with her every night, whispered sweet nothings into what was left of his ear, laughed with him over black coffee, cried with him over yellowing pictures, talked greenly about having kids of her own, began to miss him before she became sick, left him everything in her will, thought of only him as she died, always knew he was fiction but believed in him anyway. Jonathan Safran Foer coffeemorningsweet The Eskimos have four hundred words for snow, and the Jewshave four hundred for schmuck. Jonathan Safran Foer hundredfoursnow The only thing worse than being sad is for others to know you are sad. Jonathan Safran Foer everything-is-illuminatedbeing-sadknows ... the man took my passport and asked me the purpose of my visit, I wrote in my daybook, 'To mourn,' and then, 'To try to live,' he gave me a look and asked if I would consider that business or pleasure, I wrote, 'Neither.' 'For how long do you plan to mourn and try to live?' I wrote, 'For the rest of my life. Jonathan Safran Foer tryingmenlong Was his death an essential stage in the continuation of his life? Jonathan Safran Foer continuationstageessentials The images of his infinite pasts and infinite futures washed over him as he waited, paralyzed, in the present. Jonathan Safran Foer paralyzedinfinitepast There's a really wonderful book called "Man Is Not Alone" by Abraham Joshua Heschel, which makes the case that everybody is religious. You know, we've just been sort of too vigilant about our terminology and our definitions and too precious about it. But there's nobody who is indifferent to the experience of standing in front of an ocean at night. There's nobody who is indifferent to the feeling of, you know, lying on your back and looking up at the night sky. Jonathan Safran Foer religiousbooklying The way that I feel about my Jewish identity has been really radically changed by events in life. Like, becoming a writer is one. Having children is another. And getting older and watching, you know, my parents and grandparents get older has been another, the seasons of - being witness to the seasons of life and wanting to have some kind of infrastructure to deal with it, to cope with them. Ritual has become more important to me as I've gotten older. It's not always religious ritual, but it often borrows from Judaism. Jonathan Safran Foer grandparentreligiouschildren Life is precious, so I ought to spend my days, you know, making sandwiches for homeless people and tending to the elderly in hospice care. Life is precious, so I should give everything away, except that I live in the world. And in the world, I actually have needs and wants, and I value my needs and wants. And I live in the world, and I can't just go make sandwiches every day because I also have to take kids to school. I also have to, you know, write books because that's my livelihood. Jonathan Safran Foer kidsbookschool You only get to keep what you refuse to let go of. Jonathan Safran Foer letting-go September 11 had such a strong visual component, the most visually documented event in human history. Nothing's ever been seen by as many people as that was. Our experiences of the day, our memories of the day are just so tied up in images of buildings falling and bodies falling. Jonathan Safran Foer strongmemoriesfall The dissolution of a family, global crisis creates the massive fracture, not only in the Middle East but between America and Israel, between Europe and Israel, between American Jews and Israeli Jews. The distances seem to be widening wherever you look. Jonathan Safran Foer jewcrisisdistance People who want to find a place of rest, want to find an integrated personality, sense of self, want fewer fractures in their lives. Jonathan Safran Foer integratedpersonalitypeople Abraham responds "Here I am" when God asks him to sacrifice his son, and he answers "Here I am" when his son asks him about what is happening. It's a paradoxical moment. He can't be fully present for his God or his son. Jonathan Safran Foer sacrificehere-i-amson Everybody knows the competing identities of people who have kids. Jonathan Safran Foer identitykidspeople It is unrealistic to think you can have an inflexible identity that never has to give or take or make compromises. Jonathan Safran Foer identitygivingthinking Factory farmers talk about their desire to feed the world. That's not what they're doing. They're feeding the world with really, really cheap stuff. Jonathan Safran Foer desirestuffworld The American dream itself is declining. Jonathan Safran Foer american-dreamdream Marriage is like a chess match is initiated and the board expands over time until it takes up all of a life. Jonathan Safran Foer chess-matchboardschess People shouldn't be allowed to get married until it's too late to have kids. Jonathan Safran Foer too-latekidspeople
