You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
David Foster WallaceRead
There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says 'Morning, boys. How's the water?' And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes 'What the hell is water?'
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the idea that we often overlook the fundamental aspects of our existence.
David Foster Wallace's quote uses the metaphor of fish in water to illustrate how we can be oblivious to the most fundamental aspects of our lives. The elder fish's question provokes the younger fish to realize that they are surrounded by something that they take for granted—water, which represents the environment and circumstances we often overlook. This serves as a powerful reminder to be aware of the 'water' around us in our daily lives, urging us to recognize and reflect on the context in which we live.
Themes
AwarenessLifePerceptionExistenceMetaphor
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about mindfulness, one might use the quote to emphasize the need for self-awareness.
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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