You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude - but the fact is that, in the day-to-day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have life-or-death importance. That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Banal platitudes may seem simple, but they can hold significant importance in our daily lives.
David Foster Wallace highlights the often overlooked value of seemingly trivial pieces of wisdom, suggesting that while they might sound cliché, in the complexities of adult life, these platitudes can guide us through critical moments and decisions. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing the weight that these simple truths can carry in serious contexts.
Themes
PlatitudeImportanceWisdomAdult LifeTruth
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech at a conference, this quote could be used to remind the audience of the value of simple truths.
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.
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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 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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