Quotes by Jed Rubenfeld

The pity of it was that this discovery, if such it was, now seemed so stale, so profitless to me. What good was it? What good did thinking ever do?

Unhappiness is caused when we cannot let go of our memories.

For society, marriage is undoubtedly beneficial. But the burdens of civilized morality are too heavy for many to bear.

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...

There is no mystery to happiness.Unhappy men are all 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 doesnt look ahead. He lives in the present. But theres the rub. The present can never deliver one thing: meaning. 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. For myself, I have always chosen meaning.

A womans love for a man is half animal passion and half hate. The more a woman loves a man, the more she hates him.

A womans love for a man is ha;f animal passion and half hate. The more a woman loves a man, the more she hates him. If a man is worth having, he must be a womans superior; if he is her superior, part of her must hate him. It is only in beauty we surpass you, and it is therefore no wonder that we worship beauty above all else.

Satisfying a savage instinct is incomparably more pleasurable than satisfying a civilized one.

There is no mystery to happiness. Unhappy men are all 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 dies not look back. He doesnt look ahead. He lives in the present.

What i literally cannot describe is the hollowness in my lungs when i am out of her presence. It is as if i were dying from the want of her.

Wrong way to think about it. Dont try to figure it out all at once.

I know he is--sensitive--on some points, Detective, but you must bear in mind how hard it is for an honest man to do his work in relative obscurity, while dishonest men attain wealth and renown. That is why corruption is so pernicious. It breaks the will of good men.

No man can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips.

A woman is at her greatest peril in the presence of a beautiful man.

“Unhappiness is caused when we cannot let go of our memories.”

“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.”