Top 50 Jessica Zafra Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Life is a series of random collisions.”

— Jessica Zafra

2. “Whining is a form of manipulation. People will give anything to make you shut up.”

— Jessica Zafra

3. “We often reward mediocrity because it is comforting. If they can do it, anyone can do it.”

— Jessica Zafra

4. “We have no control over fate and history, but we can control how we conduct ourselves in this life.”

— Jessica Zafra

5. “People who read books in public places are regarded with suspicion because they appear self-sufficient. When you seem self-sufficient, other people think that you think you’re better than them, and they get resentful.”

— Jessica Zafra

6. “To live intensely is a basic human necessity.”

— Jessica Zafra

7. “As you go through life, you learn many lessons. Unfortunately these lessons only apply to the specific instances in which you learned them. Therefore you can expect to make horrible mistakes no matter how long you live.”

— Jessica Zafra

8. “Beware of those who have never been bored, depressed, or angry. There is something seriously wrong with them.”

— Jessica Zafra

9. “We read because we are essentially alone.”

— Jessica Zafra

10. “My Macbook is my new boyfriend, except that he’s dependable and meets all my demands.”

— Jessica Zafra

11. “Yes, it’s true that you can’t learn everything from books. But you do learn something about everything.”

— Jessica Zafra

12. “We are all the same in that we all want to be different.”

— Jessica Zafra

13. “If you are honest with yourself, your life will be so much more pleasant.”

— Jessica Zafra

14. “Greasy food might not be good for your body, but it does wonders for the soul. A healthy diet may prolong your life, but what would you have to live for? What is the point of living to a hundred if you have to subsist on bland food? One may as well die of boredom.”

— Jessica Zafra

15. “The reason men rule is because women let them.”

— Jessica Zafra

16. “What we call the wisdom that comes with age is usually simple caution.”

— Jessica Zafra

17. “What does not kill you will make you stronger and more cynical.”

— Jessica Zafra

18. “Sometimes I wonder if, instead of falling madly in love, we should aspire to fall sanely in love. But then, what would be the point?”

— Jessica Zafra

19. “To work problems out for yourself, to find you own way out of ignorance, to know the pleasure of knowing – these things improve the quality of life. Unfashionable, even impractical, but true.”

— Jessica Zafra

20. “The reason producers make stupid movies is because there are stupid people who will pay to see them.”

— Jessica Zafra

21. “We don’t really have a movie industry; we have a trailer industry. The movie guys make five minutes worth of stuff to get people in the theatre, and eighty-five minutes of filler.”

— Jessica Zafra

22. “That’s the thing about a great book. Every time you read it, it’s different, because you’re different. You’ve changed since the last time you picked it up, things have happened to you.”

— Jessica Zafra

23. “Few things in life are certain, and one of them is that you can turn on the television at three in the morning and someone will be singing and dancing on the Indian channel. Proof of Nietzsche’s theory of eternal recurrence.”

— Jessica Zafra

24. “Once you’ve read too many trashy best-sellers, you begin to look for something with substance, something that attempts to define the universe.”

— Jessica Zafra

25. “Being good does make a difference. You will not receive praise or payment for it, and other people will mistake your goodness for weakness, but it resonates among people you won’t even meet.”

— Jessica Zafra

26. “Food is the all-purpose comforter, the giver of warmth, the source of the artificial yet deeply appreciated sugar high.”

— Jessica Zafra

27. “Never, ever point out that a woman is eating too much.”

— Jessica Zafra

28. “One of the advantages of having an imaginary boyfriend is that he exists only for you, therefore he can not be stolen. The disadvantage is that you can not introduce him to your friends.”

— Jessica Zafra

29. “Singapore is what your city could become if everyone obeyed the rules, did their jobs diligently, and just shut up. When your city gets to be this paragon of efficiency and discipline, would you still want to live there? Singapore is a model city, which is terrific if you happen to be a model human.”

— Jessica Zafra

30. “In relationships it is best to assume nothing.”

— Jessica Zafra

31. “Marriage is a contract. Love is non-negotiable.”

— Jessica Zafra

32. “Repeat after me: “I am a goddess. I am a goddess. I am a goddess.” Make this your mantra. From constant repetition you will start believing it, and if you yourself are convinced of your goddesshood, other people will be convinced.”

— Jessica Zafra

33. “That’s really what the mall is all about: money. At the mall the rule is: Credito, ergo sum – I shop, therefore I am.”

— Jessica Zafra

34. “There’s nothing wrong with self-improvement, as long as you recognize that at some point you’re going to have to accept yourself in all your imperfect glory. What’s wrong with liking yourself the way you are?”

— Jessica Zafra

35. “Someday you will look back on all the awful stuff that’s happening to you, and fondly smile. Doesn’t say much about the future, does it?”

— Jessica Zafra

36. “Everyone declares that love is irrational, and yet everytime this statement is proven correct, they profess amazement. They seem to assume that love will make an exception in their case. It never does.”

— Jessica Zafra

37. “Jealousy is like wasabe – a little can add excitement to your salmon sashimi but too much can make you cry and trigger facial contortions. I find it very flattering if someone is jealous of me. It is an affirmation that I am hot and spectacular. It is a confirmation of my value and importance. Yes, I am vain.”

— Jessica Zafra

38. “You can not make someone love you. You can not be thin enough or white enough or famous enough. The choice is entirely the other person’s. Then again, you might try hypnosis.”

— Jessica Zafra

39. “Why should I bring happiness to those I loathe by obliterating myself, when I can make them miserable just by existing?”

— Jessica Zafra

40. “The question is not why fools fall in love. It is expected of them. When “smart” people fall in love – that’s the problem.”

— Jessica Zafra

41. “Screw us once, shame on them; screw us twice, shame on us.”

— Jessica Zafra

42. “My philosophy in gadgets is simple: Use them until they fall apart. Ignore new models as long as you can; they’re a plot to separate you from your money.”

— Jessica Zafra

43. “There are limits to self-improvement. Inevitably you hit the point where what you are is, well, what you are, and all the teach-yourself videos and easy-to-use equipment on those creatinous home TV shopping things can no longer ward off you confrontation with your self.”

— Jessica Zafra

44. “People will hate you for no apparent reason.”

— Jessica Zafra

45. “While being madly in love is fun, perhaps one should aspire to be sanely in love.”

— Jessica Zafra

46. “The more “normal” the person seems, the sicker she probably is.”

— Jessica Zafra

47. “The expression “madly in love” is apt, for it describes a form of temporary insanity.”

— Jessica Zafra

48. “I cannot write about Venice; I can only write about me, and the sleeping parts of myself that Venice has shocked into wakefulness.”

— Jessica Zafra

49. “The challenge for all of us in this day and age is to distinguish between the merely surprising and the truly amazing.”

— Jessica Zafra

50. “We like to look for patterns and find connections in unrelated events. This way we can explain them to ourselves. Life seems neater, or at least less messy. We need to feel we are in control: it is integral to our self-esteem. We also know, though we deny it, that we are not in control. So we settle for the illusions of control. What if we stopped fooling ourselves?”

— Jessica Zafra