You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
No single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Every moment, no matter how difficult, can be endured when viewed in the larger context of life.
David Foster Wallace's quote emphasizes the idea that while we may experience suffering or challenges in certain moments, these instances are typically temporary and bearable when we consider them within the continuum of our entire lives. It suggests that perspective is crucial in managing our emotional responses, highlighting the resilience of the human spirit.
Themes
EndurancePerspectiveResilienceSufferingLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity.
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.
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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 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
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