I went to a tattoo parlor and had YES written onto the palm of my left hand, and NO onto my right palm, what can I say, it hasn't made my life wonderful, its made life possible, when I rub my hands against each other in the middle of winter I am warming myself with the friction of YES and NO, when I clap my hands I am showing my appreciation through the uniting and parting of YES and NO, I signify "book" by peeling open my hands, every book, for me, is the balance of YES and NO, even this one, my last one, especially this one. Does it break my heart, of course, every moment of every day, into more pieces than my heart was made of, I never thought of myself as quiet, much less silent, I never thought about things at all, everything changed, the distance that wedged itself between me and my happiness wasn't the world, it wasn't the bombs and burning buildings, it was me, my thinking, the cancer of never letting go, is ignorance bliss, I don't know, but it's so painful to think, and tell me, what did thinking ever do for me, to what great place did thinking ever bring me? I think and think and think, I've thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it. Jonathan Safran Foer
About This Quote

I can’t say for sure what this quote is about, but I think it alludes to some sort of ritual of sorts. The writer says that he has had his hands tattooed with the words YES and NO. I also notice that this is a very long quote, which suggests that there was not enough space within the tattoo for him to write everything he had to say. It also seems as though the writer is having difficulty finding the right words to express himself, and is unsure whether his ideas are right or wrong.

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