Quotes from Jonathan Safran Foer

How could such a lonely person have been living so close to me my whole life? If I had known, I would have gone up to keep him company. Or I would have made some jewelry for him. Or told him hilarious jokes. Or given him a private tambourine concert.

Hilarious! he said. It is! I never heard from her again! Oh, well! So many people enter and leave your life! Hundreds of thousands of people! You have to keep the door open so they can come in! But it also means you have to let them go!

In de stiltes tussen de ogenblikken sijpelden de jaren weg.

It was the part when you said that you do not know anybody, and how that encompasses even you.

What about guns with sensors in the handles that could detect if you were angry, and if you were, they wouldn't fire, even if you were a police officer?

The French, who love their dogs, sometimes eat their horses. The Spanish, who love their horses, sometimes eat their cows. The Indians, who love their cows, sometimes eat their dogs.

He chose illness, because he knew of no other way to be seen. Not even by those looking at him.

Per la prima volta in vita mia mi sono chiesto se la vita valeva tutta la fatica che serve per vivere. Perché, esattamente, valeva la pena vivere? Che c'è di così orrendo nell'essere morti per sempre e non provare niente, non sognare niente? Che c'è di così fantastico nel provare sensazioni e far sogni?

A questo punto, quasi tutti i trecento e passa cittadini dello Shtetl si radunarono per dibattere quella faccenda di cui non sapevano nulla. E meno un cittadino ne sapeva, più era granitico nelle sue argomentazioni. Niente di nuovo in questo.

Their relationship was defined not by what they could share, but what they couldn't. Between any two beings there is a unique, uncrossable distance, an unenterable sanctuary. Sometimes it takes the shape of aloneness. Sometimes it takes the shape of love.

You're impossible, Yankel! I'm possibly possible. Thank you, she said

Lo so che mi hai chiesto di non cambiare gli sbagli perché hanno un suono buffo, e il buffo è l'unico modo veritiero di raccontare una storia triste.

I couldn't explain to her that I missed him more, more than she or anyone else missed him, because I could't tell her about what happened with the phone. That secret was a hole in the middle of me that every happy thing fell into.

and that's only because I'm older than you. Parents are always more knowledgeable than their children, and children are always smarter than their parents.

my brain started misbehaving, and

Gli abitanti del villaggio diventarono incarnazioni di quella leggenda che avevano ascoltato tante volte.

My celebrity memoir title: It Was the Worst of Times, It Was the Worst of Times.

Punch with your mouth and talk with your feet.

Che cosa ama di questo grattacielo? le ha chiesto Mr Black. Lei ha risposto: Se sapessi rispondere non sarebbe vero amore, giusto?

Grandfather and I did not utter words pending the drive, which is not abnormal, because we have never uttered multitudinous words. I made efforts not to spleen him, but nonetheless did. For one example, I forgot to examine the map, and we missed our entrance to the superway. "Please do not punch me," I said, "but I made a miniature error with the map." Grandfather kicked the stop pedal, and my face gave a high-five to the front window.

Hoewel de bevolking dus niet profiteert van de bio-industrie, is het ironische ook nog eens dat ze niet alleen van ons verwachten dat we hun producten kopen, maar ook nog eens betalen voor hun fouten. Alle vervuiling, alle onkosten voor het opruimen van hun afval wentelen ze af op de gemeenschap. Hun prijzen zijn kunstmatig laag - voor alle verborgen kosten mag iedereen nog jarenlang betalen.

But I didn't know, just like I didn't know it was the last time Dad would ever tuck me in, because you never know.

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?

Maybe we're just missing things we've lost, or hoping for what we want to come.