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Jonathan Safran Foer Quotes - Page 22

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They learned to hate her unknowability, her untouchability, the collage of her.

They learned to hate her unknowability, her untouchability, the collage of her.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Hate, Untouchability, Hate Her
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.20, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

It would be refreshing to have a politician try to defend guns without any reference to the Second Amendment, but on the merits of guns.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Gun, Second Amendment, Trying

Everyone performs bad actions... A bad person is someone who does not lament his bad actions.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Doe, Action, Persons
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.145, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Torah is the foundational text for Jewish law, but the Haggadah is our book of living memory. We are not merely telling a story here. We are being called to a radical act of empathy. Here we are, embarking on an ancient, perennial attempt to give human lives - our lives - dignity.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Memories, Book, Law
"Commentaries For A New American Passover Seder, Jonathan Safran Foer Presents New Haggadah", www.huffingtonpost.com. March 29, 2012.

The factory farm has succeeded by divorcing people from their food, eliminating farmers, and ruling agriculture by corporate fiat.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Agriculture, People, Factories

Literature was the only religion her father practiced, when a book fell on the floor he kissed it, when he was done with a book he tried to give it away to someone who would love it.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Father, Book, Giving
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.114, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I regret how much I believed in the future.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Regret, I Regret

She wrote, I wish I could be a girl again, with a chance to live my life again. I have suffered so much more than I needed to. And the joys I have felt have not always been joyous. I could have lived differently.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Girl, Joy, Wish
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.79, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

But I knew the truth and that's why I was so sad. Every moment before this one depends on this one. Everything in the history of the world can be proven wrong in one moment.

Jonathan Safran Foer
World, Moments, So Sad
Jonathan Safran Foer (2006). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”, p.269, Penguin UK

Can’t you even tell me if I’m on the right track?" Buckminster purred, and Dad shrugged his shoulders again. "But if you don’t tell me anything, how can I ever be right?" He circled something in an article and said, "Another way of looking at it would be, how could you ever be wrong?

Jonathan Safran Foer
Dad, Track, Would Be
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.9, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

They do not desire anything more than everything they have known.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Desire, Known
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.28, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

My dream went all the way back to the beginning. The rain rose into the clouds, and the animals descended the ramp.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Dream, Rain, Animal
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.312, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The sky slowly pulled up its blue dress to reveal night.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Night, Blue Dress, Sky
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.94, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

If god exists, he is not to be believed in.

Jonathan Safran Foer
God Exists, Ifs
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.245, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I am sure people tell you this constantly but if you looked up 'incredibly beautiful' in the dictionary there would be a picture of you.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Beautiful, People, Would Be

And yet and yet - the last secret of the tree of codes is that nothing can ever reach a definite conclusion. Nowhere as much as there do we feel possibilities shaken by the nearness of realization. The atmosphere becomes possibilities and we shall wander and make a thousand mistakes. We shall wander along yet not be able to understand.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Mistake, Tree, Atmosphere

I try not to remember the life that I didn’t want to lose but lost and have to remember

Jonathan Safran Foer
Trying, Want, Remember
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.109, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

When I heard your organization was recording testimonies, I knew I had to come. She died in my arms, saying 'I don't want to die.' That is what death is like. It doesn't matter what uniforms the soldiers are wearing. It doesn't matter how good the weapons are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we would never have war anymore.

Jonathan Safran Foer
War, Organization, Soldier

Why didn't he say goodbye? I gave myself a bruise. Why didn't he say 'I love you'?

Jonathan Safran Foer
Goodbye, Love You, Bruises
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.207, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

She was so beautiful, like someone who you will never meet, but always dream of meeting, like someone who is too good for you.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Beautiful, Dream, Meetings
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Everything Is Illuminated”, p.149, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I said, 'I need to know how he died.' He flipped back and pointed at, 'Why?' So I can stop inventing how he died. I'm always inventing.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Needs, Said, Know How
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.256, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

I wanted to protect him, which I was sure I could do, even if I could not protect myself.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Protect, Wanted, Ifs
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.81, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

People around the world were moving from one place to another. No one was staying.

Jonathan Safran Foer
Moving, People, World
Jonathan Safran Foer (2013). “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel”, p.312, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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
Book, School, Kids
Source: www.npr.org

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
Religious, Lying, Book
Source: www.npr.org

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