You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
I have always tried to avoid talking to pretty girls, because pretty girls have a vicious effect on me in which every part of my brain is shut down except for the part that says unbelievably stupid things and the part that is aware that I am saying unbelievably stupid things.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote humorously illustrates the effect attractive individuals can have on our rational thinking.
In this quote, David Foster Wallace reflects on the overwhelming and often comical challenge that arises when trying to communicate with someone he finds particularly attractive. He notes that beauty can have a paralyzing effect on one's thought processes, causing him to say foolish things while being acutely aware of his own absurdity. This playful acknowledgment of human vulnerability in romantic interactions highlights the intersection of attraction and awkwardness.
Themes
AttractionBeautyCommunicationAwkwardnessRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about love and attraction, someone might share this quote to illustrate the ridiculousness of infatuation.
More from David Foster Wallace
All quotes →Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence.
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It seems important to find ways of reminding ourselves that most 'familiarity' is meditated and delusive.
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Under fun's new administration, writing fiction becomes a way to go deep inside yourself and illuminate precisely the stuff you don't want to see or let anyone else see, and this stuff usually turns out (paradoxically) to be precisely the stuff all writers and readers share and respond to, feel.
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Acceptance is usually more a matter of fatigue than anything else.
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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 WallaceRead
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