I have no need for the past, I thought, like a child. I did not consider that the past might have a need for me.
Jonathan Safran FoerThere are two kinds of sculptures. There's the kind that subtracts: Michelangelo starts with a block of marble and chips away. And then there is the kind that adds, building with clay, piling it on. The way I write novels is to keep piling on and piling on and piling on.
Jonathan Safran FoerYou do not have to utter anything you do not want to utter,โ I told her, and she said, โThen I would never utter another word again.โ โYou do not have to do anything that you do not want to do.โ โThen I would never do anything again.
Jonathan Safran FoerWhile it is always possible to wake a person who's sleeping, no amount of noise will wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.
Jonathan Safran FoerAs I've grown older, I've grown more convinced there's nothing that shouldn't be talked about. If we think we're protecting each other, we're not.
Jonathan Safran FoerIt'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.
Jonathan Safran Foer