Quotessence
Home / Authors / Jed Rubenfeld
Jed Rubenfeld

Jed Rubenfeld Quotes

Law professor

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsWantDarkDreamHappinessLive FuturesPastSecretUncertain

Famous Jed Rubenfeld Quotes

“The ways of happiness and meaning are not the same. To find happiness, a man need only live in the moment; he need only live for the moment. But if he wants meaning—the meaning of his dreams, his secrets, his life—a man must reinhabit his past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain. Thus nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them.”

HappinessMeaning
Book:The Interpretation of Murder
Create image

“THERE IS NO mystery to happiness. Unhappy men are alike. Some wound they suffered long ago, some wish denied, some blow to pride, some kindling spark of love put out by scorn--or worse, indifference--cleaves to them, or they to it, and so they live each day within a shroud of yesterdays. The happy man does not look back. He doesn't look ahead. He lives in the present.”

MenLooksLongDoeWishMysteryPrideBlowWoundsYesterdayUnhappyIndifferenceEach DaySparksDeniedLong AgoScornLive In The PresentHappy ManShroudsLive Each DayKindling
Book:The Interpretation of Murder
Create image

“But there's the rub. The present can never deliver one thing: meaning. The way of happiness and meaning are not the same. To find happiness, a man need only live in the moment; he need only live for the moment. But if he wants meaning--the meaning of his dreams, his secrets, his life--a man must reinhabit his past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain. Thus nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them.”

IfsMenWayWantNeedsMomentsDreamPastDarkSecretOne ThingUncertainLive In The MomentFinding HappinessInsistingLive Futures
Book:The Interpretation of Murder: A Novel
Create image

“Death releases the energy into air. If a true catastrophe is looming, the disturbance becomes such that a sensitive individual may become highly troubled by it. He may be aware exactly when and where it will occur. He may see an aura around people who are soon to die. Or he may see images of the disaster beforehand.”

PeopleIfsMayDiesIndividualEnergyAirDisasterReleaseSensitiveCatastropheDisturbanceAurasLooming
Book:The Death Instinct: A Novel
Create image