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
Suddenly Yankel was overcome with a fear of dying, stronger than he felt when his parents passed of natural causes, stronger than when his only brother was killed in the flour mill or when his children died, stronger even than when he was a child and it first occurred to him that he must try to understand what it could mean not to be alive -- to be not in darkness, not in unfeeling -- to be not being, not to be.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a profound existential fear of death and the meaning of non-existence.
In this quote, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the complexity of human emotions surrounding death and the fear that arises when confronted with the idea of not existing. Yankel's overwhelming dread emphasizes the deep psychological struggles individuals face, illustrating that the awareness of mortality can provoke a more intense fear than the loss of loved ones, highlighting the intrinsic human desire to understand the essence of being alive.
Themes
DeathFearExistenceMortalityLife
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a discussion about the meaning of life and death.
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.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
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
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
What do babies dream of? She must be dreaming of the before-life, just as I dream of the afterlife.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
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.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
What is being awake if not interpreting our dreams, or dreaming if not interpreting our wake?
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
Similar quotes
He felt as though his heart were a bomb, a complicated bomb that would result in a simple explosion, wrecking the world without rocking it.
Nathanael WestRead
We are a pluralist civilisation because we allow mosques to be built in our countries, and we are not going to stop simply because Christian missionaries are thrown into prison in Kabul. If we did so, we too would become Taliban.
Umberto EcoRead
Life must have its sacred moments and its holy places. We need the infinite, the limitless, the uttermost -- all that can give the heart a deep and strengthening peace.
A. Powell DaviesRead
All experiment is made on a basis of tradition; all tradition is the crystallization of experiment.
Louis MacneiceRead
Things denied, things untold, things hidden and disguised.
J. K. RowlingRead
Meditation is listening to the song of the inner Soul, seeing the beauty of the inner Self, smelling the fragrance of the inner Spirit, experiencing the touch of the inner energies and tasting the intense sweetness of the inner God.
Amit RayRead