You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
It's probably hard to feel any sort of Romantic spiritual connection to nature when you have to make your living from it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the tension between viewing nature as a spiritual experience and the practical realities of making a living from it.
David Foster Wallace suggests that the struggle to earn a livelihood from nature can hinder the ability to appreciate its beauty and spiritual essence. When one is focused on the economic aspects of dealing with the natural world, the romantic and spiritual connection we might otherwise feel is often overshadowed by the demands of survival and labor.
Themes
NatureSpiritualityRomanticismLivelihoodConnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one might use this quote to illustrate the challenges faced by those who work with nature.
More from David Foster Wallace
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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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