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If we communicated with something like music, we would never be misunderstood, because there is nothing in music to understand...... But until we find this new way of speaking, until we can find a nonapproximate vocabulary, nonsense words are the best thing we've got. Ifactifice is one such word.
Jonathan Safran Foer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Music transcends language barriers, allowing for a form of communication that avoids misunderstandings.

In this quote, Jonathan Safran Foer reflects on the limitations of conventional language and suggests that music, as a universal form of expression, can convey emotions and ideas without ambiguity. He emphasizes the need for a new mode of communication that can articulate human experiences more accurately than words, which often fall short and lend themselves to misinterpretation.

Themes

CommunicationMusicUnderstandingLanguageExpression

In practice

Example use cases

During a discussion on the power of art, this quote could be used to emphasize how music communicates emotions.

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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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