You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that everyone holds beliefs or values, often treated as a form of worship, regardless of religious affiliation.
David Foster Wallace's quote addresses the idea that in our daily lives, we inevitably devote ourselves to something, whether it be a belief, ideology, or passion. He argues that atheism is not a true absence of worship but a choice of what one values and believes in. This reflection on devotion emphasizes that worship is not limited to religious contexts; it encompasses all aspects of life, urging us to be mindful of what we choose to elevate and prioritize.
Themes
WorshipBeliefsValuesDevotionPriorities
In practice
Example use cases
In a talk about personal values, one might say: 'As David Foster Wallace pointed out, we all have something we choose to worship in our lives.'
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.
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 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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It is easy to imagine fantasy as physical and myth as real. We do it almost every moment. We do this as we dream, as we think, and as we cope with the world about us. But these worlds of fantasy that we form into the solid things around us are the source of our discontent. They inspire our search to find ourselves.
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The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega, it is God's brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blinded note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to "World." Distinctions blur. Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing.
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A lie would have no sense unless the truth were felt as dangerous.
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