Jed Rubenfeld > Quotes

“Unhappiness is caused when we cannot let go of our memories.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“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.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“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.”
― Jed Rubenfeld

“Disgust is so reassuring; it feels like a moral proof.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“Wrong way to think about it. Don't try to figure it out all at once.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“A woman is at her greatest peril in the presence of a beautiful man.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“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 doesn't look ahead. He lives in the present.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“On certain social occasions, otherwise dignified and serious men will begin behaving unconsciously like players on a stage, performing as they talk, acting as they gesticulate. The cause is invariably a woman.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“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.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“No man can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“Satisfying a savage instinct is incomparably more pleasurable than satisfying a civilized one.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“I am the deepest of unbelievers. Every neurosis is a religion to its owner and religions is the universal neurosis of mankind. This is much beyond doubt: the characteristics we attribute to God reflect the fears and wishes we first feel as infants and as small children. Anyone who does not see that much cannot have understood the first thing about human psychology, If it is religion you are looking for, do not follow me.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“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?”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“The most exquisite joy is a sting to the heart, and love -- love is a crisis of the soul.”
― Jed Rubenfeld

“All it takes is instinct.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Death Instinct

“For society, marriage is undoubtedly beneficial. But the burdens of civilized morality are too heavy for many to bear.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“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...”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Death Instinct

“A woman's love for a man is half animal passion and half hate. The more a woman loves a man, the more she hates him.”
― Jed Rubenfeld

“All feeling is painful, one way or another. The most exquisite joy is a sting to the heart, and love - love is a crisis of the soul.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“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 doesn’t look ahead. he lives in the present. but there’s 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 uncertain.

Thus nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them.

What have you chosen: happiness or meaning?

'The interpretation of murder”
― Jed Rubenfeld.

“Well since you force me gentlemen" said Clara "I'll confess our secret. Women are men's inferiors. I know it is backward of me to say so, but to deny it is folly.... A woman's love for a man is half 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 woman's 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. That is why a woman", she wound up "is at her greatest peril in the presence of a beautiful man.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“Her nevroz, kişi için bir dindir ve din, insanoğlunun evrensel nevrozudur. Şu hiç şüphesiz doğru: Tanrı'ya atfettiğimiz özellikler ve güçler, önce bebekken ve sonra da küçük çocukken taşıdığımız korkuları ve dileklerimizi yansıtıyor.”
― Jed Rubenfeld, The Interpretation of Murder

“Mr Banwell had mastered the great truth that truth itself, like buildings, can be manufactured.”
― Jed Rubenfeld