You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
I knew my limitations and the limitations of the courts I played on, and adjusted thusly. I was at my best in bad conditions.
Interpretation
Recognizing and adapting to one's limitations can lead to success even in challenging situations.
In this quote, David Foster Wallace reflects on the importance of self-awareness and adaptability. He acknowledges his own limitations as well as those of his environment, suggesting that truly successful individuals learn to navigate through difficulties and still perform at their best, even when conditions are not ideal. This mindset encourages resilience and the ability to thrive despite obstacles.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
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.
It seems important to find ways of reminding ourselves that most 'familiarity' is meditated and delusive.
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.
Acceptance is usually more a matter of fatigue than anything else.
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 youβve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and itβs like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom.
The best thing about growing older is that it takes such a long time.
He who is false to the present duty breaks a thread in the loom, and you will see the effect when the weaving of a life-time is unraveled.
We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed Their hungry thirsty roots?
The road to ignorance is paved with good editors.
Every person you meet has a lesson to teach, a story to tell and a dream to share.
People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Love them anyway.... Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.... What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. .. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you've got anyway.
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