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Jonathan Safran Foer Quotes - Page 12

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[...]It is as if after surviving so much, there was no longer reason to survive.

[...]It is as if after surviving so much, there was no longer reason to survive.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Reason, Ifs, Surviving
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.143, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

It might sound naive to suggest that whether you order a chicken patty or a veggie burger is a profoundly important decision. Then again, it certainly would have sounded fantastic if in the 1950's you were told that where you sat in a restaurant or on a bus could begin to uproot racism.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Order, Racism, Decision
"Eating Animals". Book by Jonathan Safran Foer, 2009.

Sometimes I can feel my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Sometimes, Bones, Feels
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close". Book by Jonathan Safran Foer, April 1, 2005.

I'm not better than anyone, and I'm not trying to convince people to live by my standards of what's right. I'm trying to convince them to live by their own.

Jonathan Safran Foer
People, Trying, Standards
"Eating Animals". Book by Jonathan Safran Foer, 2009.

I know lots and lots and lots of vegetarians who think it's perfectly all right to kill animals for food to eat, but don't do it because they think all the ways in which it's done are wrong.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Animal, Thinking, Done

Books are slow, books are quiet. The Internet is fast and loud.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Book, Quiet, Internet

I wouldn't want a boy to think I was pretty unless he was the kind of boy who thought I was pretty.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Boys, Thinking, Want
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.76, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

People don’t care enough. They don’t get worked up enough. They don’t get angry enough. They don’t get passionate enough. I’d rather somebody hate what I do than be indifferent to it.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Hate, People, Passionate
Interview with Joshua Wolf Shenk, www.motherjones.com. May 20005.

It took me as long as I had known him to get rid of all of his words. Like turning an hourglass over.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Long, Hourglass, Known
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.233, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I said I kicked a French chicken in the stomach once." "Huh?" "It said, 'Oeuf.'" "What is that?" "It's a joke. Do you want to hear another, or have you already had un oeuf?

Jonathan Safran Foer
Want, Chickens, Said
Jonathan Safran Foer (2006). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”, p.16, Penguin UK

What's so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What's so great about feeling and dreaming?

Jonathan Safran Foer
Dream, Forever, Feelings
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.145, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

In America right now, we use words like 'smart' to talk about bombs. American rhetoric is grounded in ideas of capital-G Good, capital-E Evil, and it's very clear who is on which side. But in a book you can do just the opposite. You can use all lower-case words.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Smart, Book, Opposites
"Something happened" by Suzie Mackenzie, www.theguardian.com. May 21, 2005.

How did her life live itself without her.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Timepieces
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.132, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I kept thinking how they were all names of dead people, and how names are basically the only thing dead people keep.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Thinking, Names, People

I would have done anything for him. Maybe that was my sickness.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Done, Sickness

Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Kindness, Exercise, Compassion
"Eating Animals". Book by Jonathan Safran Foer, November 2, 2009.

It seems entirely possible to me that horrible things can be going on without us becoming horrible people.

Jonathan Safran Foer
People, Becoming, Horrible
Interview with Gregg LaGambina, www.avclub.com. November 17, 2009.

Murdering someone would surely prove that you are capable of killing, but it wouldn't be the most reasonable way to understand why you shouldn't do it.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Way, Vegan, Killing
"Eating Animals". Book by Jonathan Safran Foer, 2010.

I first became a vegetarian when I was nine, in response to an argument made by a radical babysitter. My great change - which lasted a couple of weeks - was based on the very simple instinct that it's wrong to kill animals for food.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Couple, Animal, Simple
"Quitting Meat: A Process Of Change" by Jonathan Safran Foer, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 18, 2010.

I got tired, I told him. Not worn out, but worn through. Like one of those wives who wakes up one morning and says I can't bake any more bread.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Morning, Tired, Wife
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.180, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

August has passed, and yet summer continues by force to grow days. They sprout secretly between the chapters of the year, covertly included between its pages.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Summer, August, Years

We eat as sons and daughters, as families, as communities, as generations, as nations, and increasingly as a globe. We can't stop our eating from radiating influence even if we want to.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Daughter, Mother, Son
"Principles Before Potsickers (From Foodie to Vegetarian in 10 Not-So-Easy Lessons)" by Bettina Elias Siegel, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 24, 2012.

Life is scarier than death.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Life Is
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.322, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I ran rather than walked, anxious to lose my way. All I wanted was to be unsure.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Way, Anxious, Wanted

To remember my values, I need to lose certain tastes and find other handles for the memories that they once helped me carry.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Memories, Needs, Taste
"Against Meat" by Jonathan Safran Foer, www.nytimes.com. October 7, 2009.

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