Jonathan Safran Foer Quotes

When we have painful memories from hurting experiences, we may feel justified in holding on to the resentment. But resentment is corrosive. It doesn't affect the person we feel anger toward, it destroys the host.

The passion for revenge should never blind you to the pragmatics of the situation. There are some people who are so blighted by their past, so warped by experience and the pull of that silken cord, that they never free themselves of the shadows that live in the time machine... And if there is a kind thought due them, it may be found contained in the words of the late Gerald Kersh, who wrote:"... there are men whom one hates until a certain moment when one sees, through a chink in their armour, the writhing of something nailed down and in torment.

What do you get out of hating people, out of having this bitterness in your heart always?

When you can't remember why you're hurt, that's when you're healed.

Emotional hurt, you gotta let that go. Walk away and let it be. So many highs and lows, but if you keep being down, you'll never get up.

One of my biggest lessons in life is, we heal at the speed of our forgiveness.

I think the hardest thing in life is to forgive. Hate is self destructive. If you hate somebody, you're not hurting the person you hate, you're hurting yourself. It's a healing, actually, it's a real healing...forgiveness.

Blame keeps wounds open; only forgiveness heals

What he did was wrong. He doesn't deserve your love. But he does deserve your forgiveness, because otherwise he will grow like a weed in your heart until it's choked and overrun. The only person who suffers, when you squirrel away all that hate, is you.

The longer we hate, the harder it is to heal us.

I can't hate for long. It isn't worth it.

I think there comes a point where you have to grow up and get over yourself, lighten up…and forgive

When you can't remember why you're hurt, that's when you're healed. When you have to work real hard to re-create the pain, and you can't quite get there, that's when you're better.

Vengeance is having a videotape planted in your soul that cannot be turned off. It plays the painful scene over and over again inside your mind...And each time it plays you feel the clap of pain again...Forgiving turns off the videotape of pained memory Forgiving sets you free.

We attach our feelings to the moment when we were hurt, endowing it with immortality. And we let it assault us every time it comes to mind. It travels with us, sleeps with us, hovers over us while we make love, and broods over us while we die. Our hate does not even have the decency to die when those we hate die-for it is a parasite sucking OUR blood, not theirs. There is only one remedy for it. [forgiveness]

The worst part of all is that, without forgiveness, bitterness is all that is left

Regrets and recriminations only hurt your soul.

If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others.

I feel enough distance from the person I used to be. I'm not ashamed about my life anymore, because I've learnt from it.

You're as sick as your secrets, and my whole life was a secret, so it's just... it's been really healing, and I've found a lot of inner peace by just owning everything and moving forward from there.

Have you recently been through a challenge, disappointment, break up or disloyalty with somebody in your life? If so, it's important after you've been hurt, to take some time to think like a lion tamer about your pain, so you can tame the possibility of more negativity coming back to bite you again!

I have a lot of self-hatred and a lot of self-anger and a lot of things that I need to let go of.

The themes in 'Violet' are universal: accepting yourself with all of your flaws, moving on, and the forgiveness and freedom that comes along with that.

It feels good when you learn to move on in life.

In fact, not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.