--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As a tourist, you become economically…" description: "\"“As a tourist, you become economically significant but existentially loathsome”\" — David Foster Wallace" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/david-foster-wallace-161_tourist_as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-sig_790728.jpg" --- # As a tourist, you become economically significant but… ![“As a tourist, you become economically significant but existentially loathsome” quote by David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/david-foster-wallace-161_tourist_as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-sig_790728.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/david-foster-wallace-161_tourist_as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-sig_790728.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/david-foster-wallace-161_tourist_as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-sig_790728.jpg) > ““As a tourist, you become economically significant but existentially loathsome”” [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Tourists impact economies but may feel morally detached from the places they visit. **In simple terms:** Travel can be profitable yet ethically troubling. Key Takeaway Reflect on your travel's ethical impact. Themes tourism ethics existential economics authenticity Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical social commentary When to use this quote - vacation planning - volunteering abroad - local business support - cultural immersion Key Concepts moral philosophy consumerism cultural impact Questions to Reflect On - What responsibilities do tourists have? - How can travel be more meaningful? A Different Perspective Economic benefits can mask exploitation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Tourist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tourist/) ## Related quotes > [“To be a mass tourist, for me, is to become a pure late-date American: alien, ignorant, greedy for something you cannot ever have, disappointed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/to-be-a-mass-tourist-for-me-is-to-become-a-pure-late-date-american/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [To be a mass tourist, for me,...is, in lines and gridlock and transaction after transaction, to confront a dimension of yourself that is as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/to-be-a-mass-tourist-for-me-is-in-lines-and-gridlock-and-transaction/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [I'm not the most loathsome man in the world. I've dropped to number nine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-affleck/i-m-not-the-most-loathsome-man-in-the-world-i-ve-dropped-to-number/) [Ben Affleck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-affleck/) > [The sweetest honey Is loathsome in his own deliciousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/the-sweetest-honey-is-loathsome-in-his-own-deliciousness/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“The thing was still loathsome--more loathsome, if possible, than before--and the scarlet dew that spotted the hand seemed brighter, and more like blood newly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/the-thing-was-still-loathsome-more-loathsome-if-possible-than-before/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [The most loathsome materialism is not the kind people usually think of, but the sort that attempts to let dead ideas pass for living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/the-most-loathsome-materialism-is-not-the-kind-people-usually-think/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [“My killing a loathsome, harmful louse, a filthy old moneylender woman who brought no good to anyone, to murder whom would pardon forty sins,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/my-killing-a-loathsome-harmful-louse-a-filthy-old-moneylender-woman/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [“Life is some kind of loathsome hag who is forever threatening to turn beautiful”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-meredith/life-is-some-kind-of-loathsome-hag-who-is-forever-threatening-to-turn/) [William Meredith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-meredith/) > [“You! You foul, loathsome, evil little cocroach! Hermione, no! He's no worth it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-k-rowling/you-you-foul-loathsome-evil-little-cocroach-hermione-no-he-s-no-worth/) [J.K. Rowling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-k-rowling/) > [Sport is a loathsome and dangerous pursuit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-humphries/sport-is-a-loathsome-and-dangerous-pursuit/) [Barry Humphries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-humphries/) > [There is nothing so loathsome as a sentimental surrealist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/there-is-nothing-so-loathsome-as-a-sentimental-surrealist/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“Where is there a wretch So wicked and loathsome as I? I have forsaken my Maker, So faithless have I been.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohandas-karamchand-gandhi/where-is-there-a-wretch-so-wicked-and-loathsome-as-i-i-have-forsaken/) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi > [“The best reason for committing loathsome and detestable acts--and let's face it, I am considered something of an expert in this field--is purely for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jasper-fforde/the-best-reason-for-committing-loathsome-and-detestable-acts-and-let/) [Jasper Fforde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jasper-fforde/) > [“Well, I love geraniums, and anybody who does not love geraniums must obviously be a depraved and loathsome person.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beverley-nichols/well-i-love-geraniums-and-anybody-who-does-not-love-geraniums-must/) [Beverley Nichols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beverley-nichols/) > [I hate all the loathsome nonsense that goes with patriotism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-hate-all-the-loathsome-nonsense-that-goes-with-patriotism/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) ## 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/) [Explore all 999 David Foster Wallace quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) ## More Tourist quotes > [From a tourist's point of view, you finally have time to travel, but you need to spend your time looking after your child. Club…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guo-guangchang/from-a-tourist-s-point-of-view-you-finally-have-time-to-travel-but/) [Guo Guangchang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guo-guangchang/) > [There's a new tourist born every minute.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-murray/there-s-a-new-tourist-born-every-minute/) [James Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-murray/) > [“Everyone just laughed. But then, I closed my eyes and deeply thought about the story of the tourist, deeply thinking about that story of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natsuki-takaya/everyone-just-laughed-but-then-i-closed-my-eyes-and-deeply-thought/) [Natsuki Takaya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natsuki-takaya/) > [China is one of those vast, continental conglomerates that... I mean, if they were to start a tourist trade in China, they'd just bus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damon-albarn/china-is-one-of-those-vast-continental-conglomerates-that-i-mean-if/) [Damon Albarn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damon-albarn/) > [Jamaica's a country of great dichotomy. On the one hand you have a tourist industry with great beaches and resorts, but on the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-franti/jamaica-s-a-country-of-great-dichotomy-on-the-one-hand-you-have-a/) [Michael Franti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-franti/) > [“She was a stranger in her own life, a tourist in her own body.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-de-la-cruz/she-was-a-stranger-in-her-own-life-a-tourist-in-her-own-body/) [Melissa de la Cruz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-de-la-cruz/) > [Gloucester's not some chi-chi tourist town. It's a working-class seaport: a no-kidding-around down-and-dirty place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israel-horovitz/gloucester-s-not-some-chi-chi-tourist-town-it-s-a-working-class/) [Israel Horovitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israel-horovitz/) > [Traveling for modeling has been great, but I never really have much time to live the tourist life while in all the different cities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rila-fukushima/traveling-for-modeling-has-been-great-but-i-never-really-have-much/) [Rila Fukushima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rila-fukushima/) > [“I began to think of myself as a perennial tourist. There was something agreeable about this. To be a tourist is to escape accountability.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/i-began-to-think-of-myself-as-a-perennial-tourist-there-was-something/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [To be a tourist is to escape accountability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/to-be-a-tourist-is-to-escape-accountability/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“It's easy to identify tourists on Edinburgh's Royal mile. They're the ones bound in knitted scarves, wearing puffa jackets and woolly hats no matter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriella-bennett/it-s-easy-to-identify-tourists-on-edinburgh-s-royal-mile-they-re-the/) [Gabriella Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriella-bennett/) > [The habit of begging, that plague of tourist resorts, is an incessant nuisance on the Alhambra hill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-lee-bates/the-habit-of-begging-that-plague-of-tourist-resorts-is-an-incessant/) [Katharine Lee Bates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-lee-bates/) > [An ugly thing, that is what you are when you become a tourist, an ugly, empty thing, a stupid thing, a piece of rubbish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamaica-kincaid/an-ugly-thing-that-is-what-you-are-when-you-become-a-tourist-an-ugly/) [Jamaica Kincaid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamaica-kincaid/) > [Tourism as a number-one industry is a terrible, terrible idea for any city, especially New York. If you were going to turn a city,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fran-lebowitz/tourism-as-a-number-one-industry-is-a-terrible-terrible-idea-for-any/) [Fran Lebowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fran-lebowitz/) > [I miss my family, and I like being a tourist when I go back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-roth/i-miss-my-family-and-i-like-being-a-tourist-when-i-go-back/) [Tim Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-roth/) [Browse all 154 Tourist quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tourist/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“As a tourist, you become economically significant but existentially loathsome”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Foster Wallace" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-significant-but-existentially/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Tourist" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-significant-but-existentially/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/david-foster-wallace-161_tourist_as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-sig_790728.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/david-foster-wallace-161_tourist_as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-sig_790728.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/david-foster-wallace-161_tourist_as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-sig_790728.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As a tourist, you become economically significant but existentially loathsome” — David Foster Wallace", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "David Foster Wallace", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“As a tourist, you become economically...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-significant-but-existentially/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/as-a-tourist-you-become-economically-significant-but-existentially/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```