David Foster Wallace

"The so-called freedom to choose leaves us more anxious than ever."

"To be human is to be lonely, and to be lonely is to be human."

"Intellectual sophistication is the capacity to be troubled by paradox."

"The most dangerous thing you can do is to convince yourself that you're free."

"We're all just trying to find meaning in a meaningless universe."

"Giftedness is like a flawless gem that comes pre-cut and can't be modified."

"The so-called real world operates on power and the exploitation of fear."

"Irony is the predominant intellectual stance of modern culture."

"There is no such thing as not worshipping; everybody worships something."

"The entertainment industry is designed to make you feel inadequate."

"Clinical depression is not sadness; it's the inability to feel anything at all."

"Metafiction is the written equivalent of using a mirror to reflect another mirror."

"The real competition in life is with yourself, not with others."

"Bureaucracy is essentially a system for avoiding decision and responsibility."

"Modern education teaches you how to think like a machine, not like a human."

"The pursuit of happiness is essentially the pursuit of distraction."

"Vulnerability is the only authentic form of strength."

"The hardest thing to do is to be present in the moment."

"Commercialism has colonized every corner of human experience."

"Fiction is about what it is to be alive, to have consciousness."

"The so-called generation gap is really a metaphor for the failure to communicate."

"Art is the mechanism by which humans transcend their own mortality."

"We confuse the map with the territory, the symbol with the real thing."

"The tyranny of choice is perhaps the defining condition of modern life."

"Most human behavior is essentially narcissistic at its core."

"Attention is a form of prayer, a way of honoring what you're paying attention to."

"The difference between humor and tragedy is sometimes just timing."

"True freedom is freedom from the fear of freedom itself."

"Modern media creates the illusion of connection while deepening isolation."

"Perfectionism is basically an advanced form of self-hatred."