You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is and who and what is really important - if you want to operate on your default-setting - then you, like me, will not consider possibilities that aren't pointless and annoying.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that an overly rigid perspective on reality can limit one's ability to see new and meaningful possibilities.
David Foster Wallace emphasizes that when we assume we already know the truth about reality and what matters, we become trapped in a default-setting that prevents us from exploring new ideas or opportunities. This mindset can lead to missing out on important and enriching experiences, as we dismiss them as trivial or bothersome without considering their potential value.
Themes
RealityPerspectivePossibilitiesThoughtfulnessDefault-Setting
In practice
Example use cases
In a class discussion on philosophy, you might share this quote to encourage students to question their assumptions.
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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