You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
...Genuine pathological openness is about as seductive as Tourette's Syndrome.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Genuine openness can be overwhelming and disruptive, similar to the involuntary nature of Tourette's Syndrome.
In this quote, David Foster Wallace highlights the complexity and potential discomfort that comes with true openness of emotions and thoughts. He compares it to Tourette's Syndrome, suggesting that while authenticity is valuable, excessive and uncontrolled expression can alienate others and create tension in relationships.
Themes
OpennessHonestyAuthenticityCommunicationDisruption
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about vulnerability in relationships, this quote can illustrate the challenges of complete honesty.
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.
David Foster WallaceRead
It seems important to find ways of reminding ourselves that most 'familiarity' is meditated and delusive.
David Foster WallaceRead
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.
David Foster WallaceRead
Acceptance is usually more a matter of fatigue than anything else.
David Foster WallaceRead
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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