My wife and I have chosen to bring up our children as vegetarians. In another time or place, we might have made a different decision. But the realities of our present moment compelled us to Jonathan Safran Foer More Quotes by Jonathan Safran Foer More Quotes From Jonathan Safran Foer 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 sides memories past 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 able keys doors Flea-Market vendors are frozen mid-haggle. Middle-aged women are frozen in the middle of their lives. The gavels of frozen judges are frozen between guilt and innocence. On the ground are the crystals of the frozen first breaths of babies, and those of the last gasps of the dying. Jonathan Safran Foer guilt judging baby So she had to satisfy herself with the idea of love - loving the loving of things whose existence she didn't care at all about. Love itself became the object of her love. She loved herself in love, she loved loving love, as love loves loving, and was able, in that way, to reconcile herself with a world that fell so short of what she would have hoped for. It was not the world that was the great and saving lie, but her willingness to make it beautiful and fair, to live a once-removed life, in a world once-removed from the one in which everyone else seemed to exist. Jonathan Safran Foer beautiful love lying ...people with nothing to declare carry the most. Jonathan Safran Foer struggle people We live in a world made up more of story than stuff. We are creatures of memory more than reminders, of love more than likes. Being attentive to the needs of others might not be the point of life, but it is the work of life. It can be messy, and painful, and almost impossibly difficult. But it is not something we give. It is what we get in exchange for having to die. Jonathan Safran Foer might giving memories Fiction works when it makes a reader feel something strongly. Jonathan Safran Foer reader feels fiction 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. Jonathan Safran Foer light sides past 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 dad father children I looked at everyone and wondered where they came from, and who they missed, and what they were sorry for. Jonathan Safran Foer sorry I imagine a line, a white line, painted on the sand and on the ocean, from me to you. Jonathan Safran Foer long-distance-relationship ocean white We live in a world made up more of story than stuff. We are creatures of memory more than reminders, of love more than likes. Jonathan Safran Foer stuff memories world It's true, I am afraid of dying. I am afraid of the world moving forward without me, of my absence going unnoticed, or worse, being some natural force propelling life on. Is it selfish? 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 Foer selfish dream death I'm sorry for my inability to let unimportant things go, for my inability to hold on to the important things. Jonathan Safran Foer unimportant-things inability sorry I never confused what I had with what I was. Jonathan Safran Foer confused Part of living your life is an awareness of the opportunities that can be missed and an awareness that time moves in one direction. Jonathan Safran Foer live-your-life opportunity moving Writers now are putting total faith in designers at Apple and Amazon. It's almost like a race-car driver having no input into how cars are designed. Jonathan Safran Foer apples car race 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 future regret life You need to have a reader's sympathy in order to accomplish anything. It's like at a reading, I find it's better to read something funny than to read something tragic. It just goes over better because you have a finite amount of time with somebody. Of course, in a book, you have a lot of time. But you still do want to make a certain impression right when you begin. Jonathan Safran Foer reading order book I think and think and think, I‘ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it. Jonathan Safran Foer positivity happiness thinking