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
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.
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.
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?
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
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