One paradox of professional writing is that books written solely for money and/or acclaim will almost never be good enough to garner either. David Foster Wallace More Quotes by David Foster Wallace More Quotes From David Foster Wallace I don't want to hurt myself. I want to stop hurting. David Foster Wallace hurtwant You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. David Foster Wallace lifepeoplethinking Is it possible really to love other people? If I’m lonely and in pain, everyone outside me is potential relief—I need them. But can you really love what you need so badly? Isn’t a big part of love caring more about what the other person needs? How am I supposed to subordinate my own overwhelming need to somebody else’s needs that I can’t even feel directly? And yet if I can’t do this, I’m damned to loneliness, which I definitely don’t want … so I’m back at trying to overcome my selfishness for self-interested reasons. David Foster Wallace painlonelyloneliness The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: "This is water." "This is water." It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out. David Foster Wallace realsimplesight Lonely people tend, rather, to be lonely because they decline to bear the psychic costs of being around other humans. They are allergic to people. People affect them too strongly. David Foster Wallace psychicslonelyloneliness That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt. That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness. That it is possible to fall asleep during an anxiety attack. That concentrating on anything is very hard work. David Foster Wallace hurtkindnessfall What the really great artists do is they're entirely themselves. They're entirely themselves. They've got their own vision, they have their own way of fracturing reality, and if it's authentic and true, you will feel it in your nerve endings. David Foster Wallace visionartistreality We are not dead but asleep, dreaming of ourselves. David Foster Wallace dream Lucky people develop a relationship with a certain kind of art that becomes spiritual, almost religious, and doesn’t mean, you know, church stuff, but it means you’re just never the same. David Foster Wallace religiousspiritualart That everything is on fire, slow fire, and we're all less than a million breaths away from an oblivion more total than we can even bring ourselves to even try to imagine. David Foster Wallace imaginefiretrying I know I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough? David Foster Wallace one-lineparanoidenough Quentin Tarantino is interested in watching somebody's ear getting cut off; David Lynch is interested in the ear. David Foster Wallace tarantinocuttingears Our attachments are our temple, what we worship, no? What we give ourselves to, what we invest with faith. . . . Attachments are of great seriousness. Choose your attachments carefully. Choose your temple of fanaticism with great care. David Foster Wallace careattachmentgiving If you can think of times in your life that you’ve treated people with extraordinary decency and love, and pure uninterested concern, just because they were valuable as human beings. The ability to do that with ourselves. To treat ourselves the way we would treat a really good, precious friend. Or a tiny child of ours that we absolutely loved more than life itself. And I think it’s probably possible to achieve that. I think part of the job we’re here for is to learn how to do it David Foster Wallace jobschildrenthinking Hear this or not, as you will. Learn it now, or later -- the world has time. Routine, repetition, tedium, monotony, ephemeracy, inconsequence, abstraction, disorder, boredom, angst, ennui -- these are the true hero's enemies, and make no mistake, they are fearsome indeed. For they are real. David Foster Wallace realheromistake Bliss - a-second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious - lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you’ve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it’s like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom. David Foster Wallace crushgratitudelying Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. David Foster Wallace yahwehworship-youchoices Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still. David Foster Wallace take-timebeesmoving It's in the democratic citizen's nature to be like a leaf that doesn't believe in the tree it's part of. David Foster Wallace treeinspirationalbelieve Almost anything that you pay close, direct attention to becomes interesting. David Foster Wallace wiseattentioninteresting
