You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
One paradox of professional writing is that books written solely for money and/or acclaim will almost never be good enough to garner either.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Writing for money or recognition often leads to poor quality work.
David Foster Wallace highlights the paradox that when writers focus solely on financial gain or fame, their work tends to lack authenticity and quality. True value in writing comes from genuine passion and depth rather than from a desire for external validation, suggesting that success in writing is rooted in sincerity and craftsmanship rather than in the pursuit of accolades or profit.
Themes
WritingSuccessAuthenticityPassionQualityAcclaim
In practice
Example use cases
During a writing workshop, to inspire students to write from their heart, quote David Foster Wallace to emphasize the importance of authenticity in writing.
More from David Foster Wallace
All quotes βEverything 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 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.
David Foster WallaceRead
Similar quotes
Life is short, and potential studies infinite. We have a much better chance of accomplishing something significant when we follow our passionate interests and work in areas of deepest personal meaning.
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In actuality, no one ever sank so deep that he could not sink deeper, and there may be one or many who sank deeper. So it is always possible to be happy and grateful that things are not worse!
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The ego is a subtle wall around you. It does not allow anybody to enter into you. You feel protected, secure, but this security is deathlike. It is the security of the plant inside the seed. The plant is afraid to sprout because - who knows? The world is so hazardous and the plant will be so soft, so fragile. Behind the wall of the seed, hiding inside the cell, everything is protected.
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Jealous people poison their own banquet and then eat it
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History is apt to judge harshly those who sacrifice tomorrow for today.
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Pain in this life is not avoidable, but the pain we create avoiding pain is avoidable.
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