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100 Great Quotes By David Foster Wallace That Will Help You Craft Literary Oeuvre

Famous As: Writer
Born On: February 21, 1962
Died On: September 12, 2008
Born In: Ithaca, New York, United States
Died At Age: 46
David Foster Wallace was a prolific American writer and and creative writing instructor. Wallace was crowned as one of the most innovative and influential writers of the last twenty years. His book titled, ‘Infinite Jest’ made it to the list of ‘One of the hundred best English-language novel’ to be published between 1923-2005. In 2012, his last novel ‘The Pale King’ became the final selection for ‘Pulitzer Prize For Fiction’. Wallace’s thoughts, work, writings, views, opinions and books have inspired many writers which include, ‘Matthew Gallaway’, ‘Jonathan Franzen’, ‘Dave Eggers’, ‘Charles Yu’, ‘Rivka Galchen’, ‘Elizabeth Wurtzel’, ‘George Saunders’ and ‘Darin Strauss’. Read through the famous quotable quotations and sayings by David Foster Wallace which have been gathered from his writings, essays, short-stories, books, work and life.
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Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.

Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.

David Foster Wallace
I do things like get in a taxi and say,

I do things like get in a taxi and say, "The library, and step on it.

David Foster Wallace
The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.

The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.

David Foster Wallace
You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.

You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.

David Foster Wallace
We're all lonely for something we don't know we're lonely for. How else to explain the curious feeling that goes around feeling like missing somebody we've never even met?

We're all lonely for something we don't know we're lonely for. How else to explain the curious feeling that goes around feeling like missing somebody we've never even met?

David Foster Wallace
Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it.

Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it.

David Foster Wallace
Try to learn to let what is unfair teach you.

Try to learn to let what is unfair teach you.

David Foster Wallace
Fiction’s about what it is to be a fucking human being.

Fiction’s about what it is to be a fucking human being.

David Foster Wallace
It's weird to feel like you miss someone you're not even sure you know.

It's weird to feel like you miss someone you're not even sure you know.

David Foster Wallace
Whatever you get paid attention for is never what you think is most important about yourself.

Whatever you get paid attention for is never what you think is most important about yourself.

David Foster Wallace
The parts of me that used to think I was different or smarter or whatever, almost made me die.

The parts of me that used to think I was different or smarter or whatever, almost made me die.

David Foster Wallace
How odd I can have all this inside me and to you it’s just words.

How odd I can have all this inside me and to you it’s just words.

David Foster Wallace
Acceptance is usually more a matter of fatigue than anything else.

Acceptance is usually more a matter of fatigue than anything else.

David Foster Wallace
It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase.

It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase.

David Foster Wallace
I had kind of a midlife crisis at twenty which probably doesn’t augur well for my longevity

I had kind of a midlife crisis at twenty which probably doesn’t augur well for my longevity

David Foster Wallace
Lonely people tend, rather, to be lonely because they decline to bear the psychic costs of being around other humans. They are allergic to people. People affect them too strongly.

Lonely people tend, rather, to be lonely because they decline to bear the psychic costs of being around other humans. They are allergic to people. People affect them too strongly.

David Foster Wallace
There's good self-consciousness, and then there's toxic, paralyzing, raped-by-psychic-Bedouins self-consciousness.

There's good self-consciousness, and then there's toxic, paralyzing, raped-by-psychic-Bedouins self-consciousness.

David Foster Wallace
You have decided being scared is caused mostly by thinking.

You have decided being scared is caused mostly by thinking.

David Foster Wallace
Te Occidere Possunt Sed Te Edere Non Possunt Nefas Est

Te Occidere Possunt Sed Te Edere Non Possunt Nefas Est" ("They can kill you, but the legalities of eating you are quite a bit dicier").

David Foster Wallace
What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant.

What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant.

David Foster Wallace
...logical validity is not a guarantee of truth.

...logical validity is not a guarantee of truth.

David Foster Wallace
Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still.

Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still.

David Foster Wallace
And Lo, for the Earth was empty of Form, and void. And Darkness was all over the Face of the Deep. And We said: 'Look at that fucker Dance.

And Lo, for the Earth was empty of Form, and void. And Darkness was all over the Face of the Deep. And We said: 'Look at that fucker Dance.

David Foster Wallace
The thing about people who are truly and malignantly crazy: their real genius is for making the people around them think they themselves are crazy. In military science this is called Psy-Ops, for your info.

The thing about people who are truly and malignantly crazy: their real genius is for making the people around them think they themselves are crazy. In military science this is called Psy-Ops, for your info.

David Foster Wallace
Good fiction’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

Good fiction’s job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

David Foster Wallace
To be, in a word, unborable.... It is the key to modern life. If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish

To be, in a word, unborable.... It is the key to modern life. If you are immune to boredom, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish

David Foster Wallace
I'd like to be the sort of person who can enjoy things at the time, instead of having to go back in my head and enjoy them.

I'd like to be the sort of person who can enjoy things at the time, instead of having to go back in my head and enjoy them.

David Foster Wallace
I have filled 3 Mead notebooks trying to figure out whether it was Them or Just Me.

I have filled 3 Mead notebooks trying to figure out whether it was Them or Just Me.

David Foster Wallace
True heroism is minutes, hours, weeks, year upon year of the quiet, precise, judicious exercise of probity and care—with no one there to see or cheer. This is the world.

True heroism is minutes, hours, weeks, year upon year of the quiet, precise, judicious exercise of probity and care—with no one there to see or cheer. This is the world.

David Foster Wallace
The interesting thing is why we're so desperate for this anesthetic against loneliness.

The interesting thing is why we're so desperate for this anesthetic against loneliness.

David Foster Wallace