--- title: "4 Consider Quotes By David Foster Wallace" description: "4 Consider quotes by David Foster Wallace. Plus more from David Foster Wallace and more Consider sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/020/david-foster-wallace-161_marriage_but-most-days-if-you-re-aware-enough-to_137179.jpg" --- > [“But most days, if you're aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/but-most-days-if-you-re-aware-enough-to-give-yourself-a-choice-you/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/020/david-foster-wallace-161_marriage_but-most-days-if-you-re-aware-enough-to_137179.jpg) > [Or I can choose to force myself to consider the likelihood that everyone else in the supermarket's checkout line is just as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/or-i-can-choose-to-force-myself-to-consider-the-likelihood-that/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e3/david-foster-wallace-161_bored_or-i-can-choose-to-force-myself-to-consi_758656.jpg) > [“If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/if-you-re-automatically-sure-that-you-know-what-reality-is-and-you/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/080/david-foster-wallace-161_pay-attention_if-you-re-automatically-sure-that-you-kn_877832.jpg) > [“But most days, if you’re aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/but-most-days-if-you-re-aware-enough-to-give-yourself-a-choice-you-2/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/229/david-foster-wallace-161_pay-attention_but-most-days-if-you-re-aware-enough-to_2234472.jpg) ## Other authors on Consider ## More by David Foster Wallace > [“I felt more solidly composed, now that I was horizontal. I was impossible to knock down.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/i-felt-more-solidly-composed-now-that-i-was-horizontal-i-was/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“We all have our little solipsistic delusions, ghastly intuitions of utter singularity: that we are the only one in the house who ever fills…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/we-all-have-our-little-solipsistic-delusions-ghastly-intuitions-of/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“It's no accident that in a bureaucracy getting fired is called 'termination,' as in ontological erasure.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/it-s-no-accident-that-in-a-bureaucracy-getting-fired-is-called/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [Footnote: 79) The anchor is gigantic and must weigh a hundred tons, and -- delightfully -- it really is anchor-shaped, i.e. the same shape…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/footnote-79-the-anchor-is-gigantic-and-must-weigh-a-hundred-tons-and/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“The paradoxical intercourse of audience and celebrity. The suppressed awareness that the whole reason ordinary people found celebrity fascinating was that they were not,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-paradoxical-intercourse-of-audience-and-celebrity-the-suppressed/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“I am coming to see that the sensation of the worst nightmares, a sensation that can be felt asleep or awake, is identical to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/i-am-coming-to-see-that-the-sensation-of-the-worst-nightmares-a/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“He cranks the condo’s AC way down at night and still most mornings wakes up soaked, fetally curled, entombed in that kind of psychic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/he-cranks-the-condo-s-ac-way-down-at-night-and-still-most-mornings/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“To me, at least in retrospect, the really interesting question is why dullness proves to be such a powerful impediment to attention. Why we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/to-me-at-least-in-retrospect-the-really-interesting-question-is-why/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“If you’re subjected to enough great salesmen and salespitches and marketing concepts for long enough—like from your earliest Saturday-morning cartoons, let’s say—it is only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/if-you-re-subjected-to-enough-great-salesmen-and-salespitches-and/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“Why is the truth usually not just un- but anti-interesting?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/why-is-the-truth-usually-not-just-un-but-anti-interesting/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“She almost reminds the engineer of certain types in high school whom everyone adored because you sensed it made no difference to them whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/she-almost-reminds-the-engineer-of-certain-types-in-high-school-whom/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/to-be-in-a-word-unborable-it-is-the-key-to-modern-life-if-you-are/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“It is within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/it-is-within-your-power-to-experience-a-crowded-loud-slow-consumer/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“The happy pleasure of the person alone, yes?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-happy-pleasure-of-the-person-alone-yes/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [There is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/there-is-such-a-thing-as-raw-unalloyed-agendaless-kindness/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consider/david-foster-wallace/#itemlist", "name": "4 Consider Quotes By David Foster Wallace", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But most days, if you're aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-up lady who just screamed at her kid in the checkout line. Maybe she's not usually like this. Maybe she's been up three straight nights holding the hand of a husband who is dying of bone cancer. Or maybe this very lady is the low-wage clerk at the motor vehicle department, who just yesterday helped your spouse resolve a horrific, infuriating, red-tape problem through some small act of bureaucratic kindness. Of course, none of this is likely, but it's also not impossible. It just depends what you want to consider. If you're automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won't consider possibilities that aren't annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options. 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