We burned with love for ourselves, all of us, starters of the fire we suffered- our love was the affliction for which only our love was the cure.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
A map such as that one is worth many hundreds, and as luck will have it, thousands of dollars. But more than this, it is a remembrance of that time before our planet was so small. When this map was made, I thought, you could live without knowing where you were not living.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the value of maps not only as tools for navigation but as symbols of a time when the world felt vast and unexplored.
Jonathan Safran Foer highlights the significance of maps as more than mere geographical tools; they serve as reminders of a bygone era when the world felt larger and more mysterious. This nostalgia emphasizes how advancements in technology have transformed our understanding of the world, allowing us to navigate it effortlessly, but perhaps at the cost of losing the sense of wonder and discovery that comes from exploring the unknown.
Themes
MapsNostalgiaExplorationDiscoveryValueWorld
In practice
Example use cases
During a presentation on the importance of exploration in understanding our world.
More from Jonathan Safran Foer
All quotes →Memory was supposed to fill the time, but it made time a hole to be filled. Each second was two hundred yards, to be walked, crawled. You couldn't see the next hour, it was so far in the distance. Tomorrow was over the horizon, and would take an entire day to reach.
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She was not crying Which surprised me very much But I understand now That she had found places For her melancholy That were behind more masks Than only her eyes
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What do babies dream of? She must be dreaming of the before-life, just as I dream of the afterlife.
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A few weeks after the worst day, I started writing lots of letters. I don't know why, but it was one of the only things that made my boots lighter.
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What is being awake if not interpreting our dreams, or dreaming if not interpreting our wake?
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