QuoteProject
I can't count the times that upon telling someone I am vegetarian, he or she responded by pointing out an inconsistency in my lifestyle or trying to find a flaw in an argument I never made. (I have often felt that my vegetarianism matters more to such people than it does to me.)
Jonathan Safran Foer
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the challenges of living by personal beliefs and the scrutiny one often faces from others.

In this quote, Jonathan Safran Foer illustrates the experience of being a vegetarian and how one's personal choices can provoke intense scrutiny from others. He highlights the tendency of individuals to focus on perceived inconsistencies in the choices of others, often more so than the individuals themselves care about those choices. This speaks to a broader philosophical discussion on how society engages with personal beliefs and the importance placed on them by others.

Themes

VegetarianismLifestyleScrutinyBeliefsPersonal Choices

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a discussion about dietary choices and the pressures of societal norms.

More from Jonathan Safran Foer

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
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.
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
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
What do babies dream of? She must be dreaming of the before-life, just as I dream of the afterlife.
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.
Jonathan Safran FoerRead
What is being awake if not interpreting our dreams, or dreaming if not interpreting our wake?
Jonathan Safran FoerRead

Similar quotes

The individual's desire to dominate his environment is not a desirable trait in a society which every day grows more and more confining.
Gore VidalRead
I would sooner be holy than happy if the two things could be divorced. Were it possible for a man always to sorrow and yet to be pure, I would choose the sorrow if I might win the purity, for to be free from the power of sin, to be made to love holiness, is true happiness.
Charles SpurgeonRead
It is to the last degree distressing to contemplate the state and establishment of our navy... unless the private emolument of individuals in our navy is made superior to that in privateers, it never can become respectable; it never will become formidable. And without a respectable navy - alas, America!
John Paul JonesRead
Thousands of years ago, weren't we capable of building enormous structures like the pyramids? Weren't we capable of worshiping gods, weaving, making fire, finding lovers and wives, sending written messages? Of course we were. But although we've succeeded in replacing slaves with wage slaves, all the advances we've made have been in the field of science. Human beings are still asking the same questions as their ancestors. In short, they haven't evolved at all.
Paulo CoelhoRead
Common sense means living in the world as it is today; but creative people are people who don't want the world as it is today but want to make another world.
Abraham MaslowRead
Failure to deal with the presence of sin can often be traced back to spiritual amnesia – forgetting our new, true, real identity. As a believer, I am someone who has been delivered from the dominion of sin and who therefore is free and motivated to fight against the remnants of sin in my heart. You must know, rest in, think through, and act upon your new identity – you are in Christ
Sinclair B. FergusonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.