You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt. That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness. That it is possible to fall asleep during an anxiety attack. That concentrating on anything is very hard work.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We often need to confront our own pain and understand that others are too preoccupied to judge us.
David Foster Wallace emphasizes the importance of acknowledging our own struggles and the relief that comes from realizing that others are more focused on their own lives than on judging us. He highlights the existence of pure, selfless kindness and acknowledges the challenges of managing anxiety, suggesting that understanding these aspects can lead to greater self-acceptance and empathy towards oneself and others.
Themes
AnxietyKindnessSelf-AcceptanceJudgmentPain
In practice
Example use cases
During a mental health awareness speech, one might quote Wallace to emphasize the importance of acknowledging one's struggles.
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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