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 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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing letters can be a therapeutic way to cope with difficult times.
In this quote, Jonathan Safran Foer reflects on a period of adversity and highlights how writing letters brought him comfort and relief during a challenging time. The act of expressing thoughts and feelings on paper helped him process his emotions and feel a sense of lightness amidst the heaviness of his experiences.
Themes
WritingLettersCopingEmotionsLightness
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about resilience, one might quote Foer to emphasize the importance of creative outlets in tough times.
More from Jonathan Safran Foer
All quotes βMemory 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
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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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What is being awake if not interpreting our dreams, or dreaming if not interpreting our wake?
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Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn't motivating, what would be? If being the number one contributor to the most serious threat facing the planet (global warming) isn't enough, what is? And if you are tempted to put off these questions of conscience, to say not now, then when?
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
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