You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
I felt, as I became a later and later bloomer, alienated not just from my own recalcitrant glabrous little body but in a way from the whole elemental exterior I'd come to see as my co-conspirator.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a sense of alienation from oneself and the world, particularly in the context of personal development and identity.
David Foster Wallace expresses feelings of alienation as he navigates the complexities of growing up and finding one's place in the world. The metaphor of being a 'later bloomer' highlights the struggle of reconciling one's inner self with external expectations and experiences, suggesting a deep philosophical inquiry into the nature of identity and existence.
Themes
AlienationIdentityGrowthPhilosophySelf-Discovery
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about personal growth in a self-help seminar.
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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