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She wants to know if I love her, that's all anyone wants from anyone else, not love itself but the knowledge that love is there, like new batteries in the flashlight in the emergency kit in the hall closet.
Jonathan Safran Foer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

People seek reassurance of love more than love itself.

This quote by Jonathan Safran Foer encapsulates the idea that individuals desire affirmation of love from others rather than the abstract concept of love. Just as batteries are essential for the functioning of a flashlight in an emergency, the knowledge of being loved provides comfort and reassurance in relationships.

Themes

LoveReassuranceRelationshipsComfortAffection

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about relationships, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of expressing love.

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Quote by Jonathan Safran Foer | QuoteProject