Jonathan Safran Foer Quotes

One of the oldest aches in the bones of humanity is loneliness. I mean it's one of the things that goes way back; loneliness is not good for the world. And so, whoever you are, gay or straight, it is totally normal, natural, and healthy to want somebody to go through life with. It's central to our humanity.

When we are most alone is when we embrace another's loneliness.

If loneliness is part of our essence, that is, our essential nature, that is only because of the way, in practical terms, we actually exist; that is, the way we move and work and live in the world.

You can be much more alone with other people than you are by yourself. Even if it's people you love.

Solitude is pleasant. Loneliness is not.

So it is that Lonely Places attract as many lonely people as they produce, and the loneliness we see in them is partly in ourselves.

A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals. He isn't telling or teaching or ordering. Rather he seeks to establish a relationship of meaning, of feeling, of observing. We are lonesome animals. We spend all life trying to be less lonesome.

In my room I'd barely closed my eyes when the blonde from the movie house came along and sang her whole song of sorrow just for me. I helped her put me to sleep, so to speak, and succeeded pretty well... I wasn't entirely alone... It's not possible to sleep alone.

The whole problem of life, then, is this: how to break out of one's own loneliness, how to communicate with others.

Now I see that all relationships are virtual, even those that take place in person. Whether we use our bodies or a keyboard, it all comes down to two minds crying out from their solitude.

It is really hard to be lonely very long in a world of words. Even if you don't have friends somewhere, you still have language, and it will find you and wrap its little syllables around you and suddenly there will be a story to live in.

I like being alone and I think this movie, as much as it is an investigation of connection and people bonding, I also think it's just as much about loneliness.

If you have a friend, things are better than if you didn't have a friend.

I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human face looking at me.

Being-alone is a deficient mode of being-with; its possibility is a proof for the latter.

Total intimacy is a myth; that said, a particular kind of loneliness can be both beautiful and fruitful.

When I was growing up and until I got married, I had some times when I felt a bit lonely and a little bit isolated - even after I got married.

While loneliness has the potential to kill, connection has even more potential to heal.

Here is the infallible test. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or men. I often hear men prizing their solitude but that is only because there are still men somewhere on earth even though in the far distance. I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human being looking at me.

Sometimes I dread loneliness more than bores. Other times, the reverse.

So I am lonely, but not alone, like everybody else.

Reading a good book helps us to feel un-alone.

We are most of us very lonely in this world; you who have any who love you, cling to them and thank God.

The trouble is not really in being alone, it's being lonely. One can be lonely in the midst of a crowd, don't you think?

Books are a poor substitute for female companionship, but they are easier to find.