Inspirational Quotes by Jonathan Safran Foer — Words of Wisdom for Daily Success

“From space, astronauts can see people making love as a tiny speck of light. Not light, exactly, but a glow that could be confused for light - a coital radiance that takes generations to pour like honey through the darkness to the astronaut's eyes.”

“...and when is enough proof enough?”

“I think and think and think, I‘ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.”

“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“I said, 'I need to know how he died.'”

“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.”

“I thought about all of the things that everyone ever says to each other, and how everyone is going to die, whether it's in a millisecond, or days, or months, or 76.5 years, if you were just born. Everything that's born has to die, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they're all on fire, and we're all trapped.”

“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.”

“There are worse things, worse than being like us. Look, at least we're alive.”

“Highs and lows make you feel that things matter, but they're nothing.”

“Nine out of ten significant people have to do with money or war!”

“Because sometimes people who seem good”

“(You do not have to be shamed in my closeness. Family are the people who must never make you feel ashamed.)”

“I could not believe in a God that would challenge faith like this.”

“I will describe my eyes and then begin the story. My eyes are blue and resplendent. Now I will begin the story.”

“Grandfather informs me that is not possible.”

““I want an infinitely blank book and the rest of time...”

“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.”

““Brod's life was a slow realization that the world was not for her, and that for whatever reason, she would never be happy and honest at the same time. She felt as if she were brimming, always producing and hoarding more love inside her. But there was no release...”

“I went to a tattoo parlor and had YES written onto the palm of my left hand, and NO onto my right palm, what can I say, it hasn't made my life wonderful, its made life possible, when I rub my hands against each other in the middle of winter I am warming myself with the friction of YES and NO, when I clap my hands I am showing my appreciation through the uniting and parting of YES and NO, I signify "book" by peeling open my hands, every book, for me, is the balance of YES and NO, even this one, my last one, especially this one. Does it break my heart, of course, every moment of every day, into more pieces than my heart was made of, I never thought of myself as quiet, much less silent, I never thought about things at all, everything changed, the distance that wedged itself between me and my happiness wasn't the world, it wasn't the bombs and burning buildings, it was me, my thinking, the cancer of never letting go, is ignorance bliss, I don't know, but it's so painful to think, and tell me, what did thinking ever do for me, to what great place did thinking ever bring me? I think and think and think, I've thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.”

““Why are you leaving me?”

““Time was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on.”