Quotes from Jonathan Safran Foer

Kein briere iz oich a breire. Not to have a choice is also a choice. How will we tell the story of he who never had no choice? At stake is our notion of righteousness, of a life worth saving.

While we pursue happiness, we flee from contentment

She had fallen in love so many times that she began to suspect that she was not falling in love at all, bt doing something much more ordinary.

the current division of the shtetl into its two sections, the Jewish Quarter and the Human Three-Quarters. All so-called sacred activities—religious studies, kosher butchering, bargaining, etc.—were contained within the Jewish Quarter. Those activities concerned with the humdrum of daily existence—secular studies, communal justice, buying and selling, etc.—took place in the Human Three-Quarters. Straddling the two was the Upright Synagogue.

What do you think is going on?' 'I feel too much. That's what's going on.' 'Do you think one can feel too much? Or just feel in the wrong ways?' 'My insides don't match up with my outsides.' 'Do anyone's insides and outsides match up?' 'I don't know. I'm only me.' 'Maybe that's what a person's personality is: the difference between the inside and outside.

But it's actually pretty easy to say horrible things: retard, cunt, whatever. In a way, it's even easier because we know exactly how bad the words are. There's nothing scary about them. Part of what makes something really hard to say is the not knowing.

gaura despre care incepea sa invete ca nu este exceptia in viata, ci regula. Gaura nu inseamna gol; golul exista in jurul ei.

The soul was not ready to transcend, but was sent back, given a chance to right a previous generation's wrong.

Every time I left our apartment to go searching for the lock, I became a little lighter, because I was getting closer to Dad. But I also became a little heavier, because I was getting farther from Mom.

And so was the synagogue lifted and moved. It was in 1783 that wheels were attached, making the shtetl's ever-changing negotiation of Jewishness and Humanness less of a schlep.

She presents food and drink to customers there, and says to me, "I mount the autobus for an hour to work all day doing things I hate. You want to know why? It is for you, Alexi-stop-spleening-me! One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be a family.

She was incredibly beautiful, with a face like Mom's, which seemed like it was smiling even when she wasn't smiling, and huge boobs.

the humble antiques salesman who survived off charity, unable to part with any of his candelabras, figurines, or hourglasses

hope you never think about anything as much as I think about you.

In familia mea, tata este campion mondial la inchis discutii.

Ze wil weten of ik van haar hou, dat is eigenlijk het enige wat de ene mens van de ander wil, het gaat niet om de liefde op zich, maar om het idee dat de liefde er is.

That secret was a hole in the middle of me that every happy thing fell into.

Si-a lasat familia de izbeliste. Mi-am scris expresia pe creier.

And I love the idea of books being more than books, or being, rather, something other than books. I think the ideal experience of my book would be like listening to music. And I love the idea of books being more than books, or being, rather, something other than books. I think the ideal experience of my book would be like listening to music.

I looked for her all day but didn't see her, not in the yard, not through a window, I promised myself I would stay until I found her, but as night began to come in, I knew I had to go home, I hated myself for going, why couldn't I be the kind of person who stays?

That's the difference between heaven and hell! In hell we starve! In heaven we feed each other!

Ai carti publicate? - Nu, dar sunt inca foarte tanar. - Ai povestiri publicate? - Nu. Ma rog, una sau doua. - Cum sunt intitulate? - Las-o balta. - Asta-i un titlu clasa-ntaia.

Am sa-mi fac desteptatorul la sase dimineata. - Sase? am interogat eu. Daca vreti sa stiti de ce am interogat, pai asta e din cauza ca pentru mine sase nu inseamna foarte devreme dimineata, ci foarte intarziat noaptea.

there are only so many times that you can utter "It does not hurt" before it begins to hurt even more than the hurt. You become enlightened of the feeling of feeling hurt, which is worse, I am certain, than the existent hurt.