“Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person like me, it's just not permanent enough. …it's going to be very hard to make the world work if there's no permanence like that. That kind of radical contingency is not compatible with a system of justice or responsible self-government.”

— Jonathan Franzen

"Jonathan Franzen Warns Ebooks are Corroding Values," The Guardian (Jan 30, 2012).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that t…" by Jonathan Franzen?

Jonathan Franzen photo

Jonathan Franzen 50

novelist 1959

Related quotes

“what i really want - and what i never get - is to be appreciated. do you know what it’s like to work so hard to make sure everyone’s happy, and to have not a single person recognize it”

David Levithan book Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Source: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

“She really was a person who cared very much about others. She worked for justice and inclusion and making sure that women's voices were heard. She wasn't willing to just accept the world as we were told it was, but worked to help make it more beautiful. I am very grateful for her bringing that into my life.”

Adrianne Wadewitz (1977–2014) academic and Wikipedian

Molly Vetter, friend of Wadewitz — quoted in: Wetzel, Diane. (April 23, 2014). "NP grad, Wikipedia editor dies in Calif." http://www.nptelegraph.com/news/np-grad-wikipedia-editor-dies-in-calif/article_c7be4462-ab39-53ad-b3e8-9055b51d3bdf.html NPTelegraph.com. North Platte, Nebraska. — and: Wetzel, Diane (April 23, 2014). "North Platte grad, 37, Wikipedia editor, dies in climbing fall" http://www.omaha.com/article/20140423/NEWS/140429478/1707. Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska).
About

“I pulled him closer to me, wrapping my arms around him, kissing him just as desperately as he was kissing me. Like if we could just love long enough and hard enough and deep enough, then the world outside would never, could never hurt us.”

Malorie Blackman Noughts & Crosses

Source: Noughts & Crosses

“The Russians aren't dedicated world dominationists. You know, they just sort of want it on account of a sentimental way, you know, but not like 'By God, we got to have it!' It just doesn't make sense for them to really push too hard, you know, but just to push easy.”

Herman Kahn (1922–1983) American futurist

by Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi , pg: 11
The Worlds of Herman Kahn: the intuitive science of thermonuclear war.

“It is not enough just to identify a problem; there are plenty of people who were very skilled at pointing out what was wrong with the world, but they were not always so adept at working out how these things could be righted.”

Alexander McCall Smith book Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, chapter 1.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series

“Now I know that our world is no more permanent than a wave rising on the ocean. Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper.”

Arthur Golden book Memoirs of a Geisha

Source: Memoirs of a Geisha

“Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood.
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could.
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it.
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it.So we keep waiting,
Waiting on the world to change.
We keep on waiting,
Waiting on the world to change.
It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance.
So we keep waiting,
Waiting on the world to change.”

John Mayer (1977) guitarist and singer/songwriter

Waiting on the World to Change
Song lyrics, Continuum (2006)

“"You try very hard to make up for something that was never your fault. […] You didn't choose this kind of life, and yet you have to work so hard to be good."
"I don't know that I'm making up for anything," he disagreed lightly. "Like everything in life, I just had to decide what to do with what I was given."”

Stephenie Meyer (1973) American author

Bella Swan and Carlisle Cullen, p. 35
Twilight series, New Moon (2006)

“Workers work hard enough to not be fired, and owners pay just enough so that workers won't quit.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki book Rich Dad Poor Dad

Source: Rich Dad, Poor Dad

“I work just as hard as any other actress around my age, like Scarlett Johansson, but I just don't get the opportunities that they get because people are so distracted by the mess that I created in my life. But that doesn't mean it's going to last forever.”

Lindsay Lohan (1986) American actress and pop singer

Interview interview (2009)

Related topics