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It's A Good Rule Of Thumb, It Seems To Me: If You're Not Allowed To See Where Something Comes From, Don't Put It In Your Mouth.
-Jonathan Safran Foer
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It's A Good Rule

Jonathan Safran Foer
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It's A Good Rule Of Thumb, It Seems To Me: If You're Not Allowed To See Where Something Comes From, Don't Put It In Your Mouth.

Understanding the Quote: "it's a good rule of thumb, it seems to me: if you're..."

This quote by Jonathan Safran Foer reflects deeply on the theme of thumbs. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Thumbs, Mouths, Seems, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Jonathan Safran Foer interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer is celebrated for insightful thoughts on thumbs and mouths. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Thumbs
Mouths
Seems
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Murdering Someone Would Surely Prove That You Are Capable Of Killing, But It Wouldn't Be The Most Reasonable Way To Understand Why You Shouldn't Do It.
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September 11 Had Such A Strong Visual Component, The Most Visually Documented Event In Human History. Nothing's Ever Been Seen By As Many People As That Was. Our Experiences Of The Day, Our Memories Of The Day Are Just So Tied Up In Images Of Buildings Falling And Bodies Falling.
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Memories
Fall
He Wrote, Are You Ok? I Told Him, My Eyes Are Crummy. He Wrote, But Are You Ok? I Told Him, That's A Very Complicated Question. He Wrote, That's A Very Simple Answer. I Asked, Are You Ok? He Wrote, Some Mornings I Wake Up Feeling Grateful.
Morning
Grateful
Eye
We Live In A World Made Up More Of Story Than Stuff. We Are Creatures Of Memory More Than Reminders, Of Love More Than Likes. Being Attentive To The Needs Of Others Might Not Be The Point Of Life, But It Is The Work Of Life. It Can Be Messy, And Painful, And Almost Impossibly Difficult. But It Is Not Something We Give. It Is What We Get In Exchange For Having To Die.
Memories
Giving
Might
I Did Not Need To Know If He Could Love Me. I Needed To Know If He Could Need Me.
Needs
Needed
Knows
Everything Is The Way It Is Because Everything Was The Way It Was
Way
It Was The First Time I Had Ever Made Love. I Wondered If He Knew That. It Felt Like Crying. I Wondered, Why Does Anyone Ever Make Love?
Making Love
Doe
Firsts
Part Of Living Your Life Is An Awareness Of The Opportunities That Can Be Missed And An Awareness That Time Moves In One Direction.
Moving
Opportunity
Live Your Life
People Who Want To Find A Place Of Rest, Want To Find An Integrated Personality, Sense Of Self, Want Fewer Fractures In Their Lives.
People
Personality
Integrated
Sometimes People Who Seem Good End Up Being Not As Good As You Might Have Hoped, You Know?
People
Might
Sometimes
I Am Not A Bad Person. I Am A Good Person Who Has Lived In A Bad Time." Alex's Grandfather..everything Is Illuminated
Grandfather
Alex
Good Person
I Usually Write Away From Home, In Coffee Shops, On Trains, On Planes, In Friends’ Houses. I Like Places Where There’s Stuff Going On That You Can Lift Your Eyes, See Something Interesting, Overhear A Conversation.
Coffee
Home
Writing
Living On A Planet Of Fixed Size Requires Compromise, And While We Are The Only Party Capable Of Negotiating, We Are Not The Only Party At The Table. We've Never Claimed More, And We've Never Had Less.
Party
Tables
Size
Let Love Write On You For Awhile.
Writing
I Love Sushi, I Love Fried Chicken, I Love Steak. But There Is A Limit To My Love.
Sushi
Limits
Steak
I Like To See People Reunited, I Like To See People Run To Each Other, I Like The Kissing And The Crying, I Like The Impatience, The Stories That The Mouth Can't Tell Fast Enough, The Ears That Aren't Big Enough, The Eyes That Can't Take In All Of The Change, I Like The Hugging, The Bringing Together, The End Of Missing Someone.
Running
Missing Someone
Eye
I Went To The Guest Room And Pretended To Write. I Hit The Space Bar Again And Again And Again. My Life Story Was Spaces.
Writing
Space
Bars
Only Someone Who'd Never Been An Animal Would Put Up A Sign Saying Not To Feed Them.
Animal
Sign Sayings
Everything I Did, I Did Because I Thought It Was The Correct Thing To Do… I Am Not A Hero, It Is True… But I Am Not A Bad Person, Either.
Hero
Things To Do
Persons
Words Are Capable Of Making Experience More Vivid, And Also Of Organizing It. They Can Scare Us, And They Can Comfort Us.
Scare
Comfort
Vivid
"my Insides Don't Match Up With My Outsides." "do Anyone's Inside And Outsides Match Up?" "i Don't Know. I'm Only Me." "maybe That's What A Person's Personality Is: The Difference Between The Inside And The Outside."
Differences
Personality
Persons
It Is Unrealistic To Think You Can Have An Inflexible Identity That Never Has To Give Or Take Or Make Compromises.
Thinking
Giving
Identity
It Might Sound Naive To Suggest That Whether You Order A Chicken Patty Or A Veggie Burger Is A Profoundly Important Decision. Then Again, It Certainly Would Have Sounded Fantastic If In The 1950's You Were Told That Where You Sat In A Restaurant Or On A Bus Could Begin To Uproot Racism.
Order
Racism
Decision
If We Were To One Day Encounter A Form Of Life More Powerful And Intelligent Than Our Own, And It Regarded Us As We Regard Fish, What Would Be Our Argument Against Being Eaten?
Powerful
Intelligent
One Day
But I Dig Negroes. I Dig Them All The Way.
Way
I Felt It Very Moving To Feel His Touch, And To Remember That Hands Can Also Show Love.
Moving
Hands
Remember
Why I'm Not Where You Are ...
Where You Are
What The Meat Industry Figured Out Is That You Don't Need Healthy Animals To Make A Profit. Sick Animals Are More Profitable... Factory Farms Calculate How Close To Death They Can Keep Animals Without Killing Them. That's The Business Model. How Quickly They Can Be Made To Grow, How Tightly They Can Be Packed, How Much Or How Little Can They Eat, How Sick They Can Get Without Dying...we Live In A World In Which It's Conventional To Treat An Animal Like A Block Of Wood.
Block
Animal
Meat Industry
I'm Not Funny. People Assume That Because My Books Are Funny, I'll Be Funny In Real Life. It's The Inevitable Disappointment Of Meeting Me.
Disappointment
Real
Book
Words Never Mean What We Want Them To Mean.
Mean
Want
Language
And So It Was When Anyone Tried To Speak: Their Minds Would Become Tangled In Remembrance. Words Became Floods Of Thought With No Beginning Or End, And Would Drown The Speaker Before He Could Reach The Life Raft Of The Point He Was Trying To Make. It Was Impossible To Remember What One Meant, What, After All Of The Words, Was Intended.
Tangled
Remembrance
Mind
Find A Printer Paper And Imagine A Full-grown Bird Shaped Something Like A Football With Legs Standing On It. Imagine 33,000 Of These Rectangles In A Grid. (broilers Are Never In Cages, And Never On Multiple Levels.) Now Enclose The Grid With Windowless Walls And Put A Ceiling On Top. Run In Automated (drug-laced) Feed, Water, Heating, And Ventilation Systems. This Is A Farm.
Football
Running
Wall
Books Are Slow, Books Are Quiet. The Internet Is Fast And Loud.
Book
Quiet
Internet
You Do Not Have To Utter Anything You Do Not Want To Utter,” I Told Her, And She Said, “then I Would Never Utter Another Word Again.” “you Do Not Have To Do Anything That You Do Not Want To Do.” “then I Would Never Do Anything Again.
Want
Said
There Is An Overabundance Of Rational Reasons To Say No To Factory-farmed Meat: It Is The No. 1 Cause Of Global Warming, It Systematically Forces Tens Of Billions Of Animals To Suffer In Ways That Would Be Illegal If They Were Dogs, It Is A Decisive Factor In The Development Of Swine And Avian Flus, And So On.
Dog
Animal
Suffering
Try To Live So That You Can Always Tell The Truth.
Trying
Telling The Truth
In The End, Everyone Loses Everyone.
Ends
Loses
We Often Use Technology To Save Time, But Increasingly, It Either Takes The Saved Time Along With It, Or Makes The Saved Time Less Present, Intimate And Rich. I Worry That The Closer The World Gets To Our Fingertips, The Further It Gets From Our Hearts.
Heart
Technology
Worry
I’d Rather Somebody Hate What I Do Than Be Indifferent To It.
Hate
Indifferent
Fiction Works When It Makes A Reader Feel Something Strongly.
Fiction
Reader
Feels
They Do Not Desire Anything More Than Everything They Have Known.
Desire
Known
If We Communicated With Something Like Music, We Would Never Be Misunderstood, Because There Is Nothing In Music To Understand...... But Until We Find This New Way Of Speaking, Until We Can Find A Nonapproximate Vocabulary, Nonsense Words Are The Best Thing We've Got. Ifactifice Is One Such Word.
Music
Vocabulary
Misunderstood
I Shook My Tambourine The Whole Time, Because It Helped Me Remember That Even Though I Was Going Through Different Neighborhoods, I Was Still Me.
Different
Remember
Neighborhood
What Were We Spending So Much Time Doing If Not Getting To Know Each Other?
Spending
Getting To Know Each Other
Knows
I Thought For A Minute, And Then I Got Heavy, Heavy Boots.
Boots
Minutes
Heavy
It Is Better To Lose Than Never To Have Had.
Loses
Can’t You Even Tell Me If I’m On The Right Track?" Buckminster Purred, And Dad Shrugged His Shoulders Again. "but If You Don’t Tell Me Anything, How Can I Ever Be Right?" He Circled Something In An Article And Said, "another Way Of Looking At It Would Be, How Could You Ever Be Wrong?
Dad
Track
Would Be
I Put My Hand On The Doorknob Because I Thought Maybe Her Hand Was On The Doorknob On The Other Side.
Hands
Sides
There's Nothing Good About Being Certain About Things. And I Don't Think There's Any Real Talent In Using Language In A Manipulative Way, With Phrases Like "tax Relief" Or "social Security Reform." It's Politically Clever, But It's Also Completely Disingenuous, And It's Not Something To Aspire To.
Clever
Real
Thinking
Feathers Filled The Small Room. Our Laughter Kept The Feathers In The Air. I Thought About Birds. Could They Fly Is There Wasn't Someone, Somewhere, Laughing?
Happiness
Laughter
Air
When I Was A Girl, My Life Was Music That Was Always Getting Louder. Everything Moved Me. A Dog Following A Stranger. That Made Me Feel So Much.
Girl
Dog
Stranger
The Only Thing Worse Than Being Sad Is For Others To Know You Are Sad.
Being Sad
Knows
Everything Is Illuminated
It Seems Entirely Possible To Me That Horrible Things Can Be Going On Without Us Becoming Horrible People.
People
Becoming
Horrible
When It Comes To Meat, Change Is Almost Always Cast As An Absolute. You Are A Vegetarian Or You Are Not.
Meat
Vegetarian
Casts
Our Love Was The Affliction For Which Only Our Love Was The Cure.
Our Love
Affliction
Cures
If It Weren't My Life, I Wouldn't Have Believed It.
Ifs
What Is Being Awake If Not Interpreting Our Dreams, Or Dreaming If Not Interpreting Our Wake?
Dream
Awake
Interpreting
I Want An Infinitely Blank Book And The Rest Of Time.
Book
Want
Blank
I Believed Him. I Was Not Stupid. I Was His Wife.
Stupid
Wife
Not Stupid
August Has Passed, And Yet Summer Continues By Force To Grow Days. They Sprout Secretly Between The Chapters Of The Year, Covertly Included Between Its Pages.
Summer
August
Years
Compassion Is A Muscle That Gets Stronger With Use, And The Regular Exercise Of Choosing Kindness Over Cruelty Would Change Us.
Kindness
Exercise
Compassion
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.
Fire
Affliction
Our Love
We Eat As Sons And Daughters, As Families, As Communities, As Generations, As Nations, And Increasingly As A Globe. We Can't Stop Our Eating From Radiating Influence Even If We Want To.
Daughter
Mother
Son
Literature Was The Only Religion Her Father Practiced, When A Book Fell On The Floor He Kissed It, When He Was Done With A Book He Tried To Give It Away To Someone Who Would Love It.
Father
Book
Giving
I Felt, That Night, On That Stage, Under That Skull, Incredibly Close To Everything In The Universe, But Also Extremely Alone. I Wondered, For The First Time In My Life, If Life Was Worth All The Work It Took To Live. What Exactly Made It Worth It? What's So Horrible About Being Dead Forever, And Not Feeling Anything, And Not Even Dreaming? What's So Great About Feeling And Dreaming?
Dream
Night
Skulls
I Think And Think And Think, I‘ve Thought Myself Out Of Happiness One Million Times, But Never Once Into It.
Happiness
Positivity
Thinking
Something Having Been Done Just About Everywhere Just About Always Is No Kind Of Justification For Doing It Now.
Done
Kind
Justification
She Is Deranged, But So So Playful.
Deranged
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.)
Vegetarianism
People
Trying
This Is The Sixty-nine," I Told Him, Presenting The Magazine In Front Of Him. I Put My Fingers -- Two Of Them -- On The Action, So That He Would Not Overlook It. "why Is It Dubbed Sixty-nine?" He Asked, Because He Is A Person Hot On Fire With Curiosity. "it Was Invented In 1969. My Friend Gregory Knows A Friend Of The Nephew Of The Inventor." "what Did People Do Before 1969?" "merely Blowjobs And Masticating Box, But Never In Chorus.
Fire
Two
People
What? She Said Once To Herself, And Then Once Aloud, What? She Felt A Total Displacement, Like A Spinning Globe Brought To A Sudden Halt By The Light Touch Of A Finger. How Did She End Up Here, Like This? How Could There Have Been So Much - So Many Moments, So Many People And Things, So Many Razors And Pillows, Timepieces And Subtle Coffins - Without Her Being Aware? How Did Her Life Live Itself Without Her?
Light
People
Coffins
Only Humans Can Cry Tears.
Tears
Cry
Cry Tears
I Always Write Out Of A Need To Read Something, Rather Than A Need To Write Something.
Writing
Needs
Sometimes I Can Feel My Bones Straining Under The Weight Of All The Lives I'm Not Living.
Sometimes
Bones
Feels
The Question, I've Come To Think, Is Not What Inspires One To Change, But What Inspires One To Remain Changed.
Thinking
Inspire
Changed
I'm Not Better Than Anyone, And I'm Not Trying To Convince People To Live By My Standards Of What's Right. I'm Trying To Convince Them To Live By Their Own.
People
Trying
Standards
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