--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Because here's something else that's…" description: "\"“Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55e/david-foster-wallace-161_adult-life_because-here-s-something-else-that-s-wei_593204.jpg" --- # Because here's something else that's weird but true: in… ![“Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some…” quote by David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55e/david-foster-wallace-161_adult-life_because-here-s-something-else-that-s-wei_593204.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55e/david-foster-wallace-161_adult-life_because-here-s-something-else-that-s-wei_593204.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55e/david-foster-wallace-161_adult-life_because-here-s-something-else-that-s-wei_593204.jpg) > ““Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.”” [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. Everyone inevitably worships something; choosing what to worship shapes life’s meaning and satisfaction. **In simple terms:** We all worship something; choose wisely. Key Takeaway Select values that sustain well‑being. Themes philosophy spirituality psychology Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal development - religious discourse - ethical decision‑making - cultural analysis Key Concepts materialism meaning ethical frameworks Questions to Reflect On - What do you currently worship? - How does that affect your happiness? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on any single object can lead to imbalance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adult life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adult-life/) [Atheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atheism/) [God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god/) [Idols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idols/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Mother Goddess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother-goddess/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Worship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worship/) ## Related quotes > [There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/there-is-no-such-thing-as-not-worshipping-everybody-worships-the-only/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/because-here-s-something-else-that-s-weird-but-true-in-the-day-to-day-2/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-hepola/in-the-day-to-day-trenches-of-adult-life-there-is-actually-no-such-2/) [Sarah Hepola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-hepola/) > [In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/in-the-day-to-day-trenches-of-adult-life-there-is-actually-no-such-3/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joshua-fields-millburn/in-the-day-to-day-trenches-of-adult-life-there-is-actually-no-such/) [Joshua Fields Millburn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joshua-fields-millburn/) > [“There is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/there-is-actually-no-such-thing-as-atheism-there-is-no-such-thing-as/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/everybody-worships-the-only-choice-we-get-is-what-to-worship/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/if-you-worship-money-and-things-if-they-are-where-you-tap-real/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/if-you-worship-money-and-things-if-they-are-where-you-tap-real-2/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“The main thing I worship is Nature !”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laure-lacornette/the-main-thing-i-worship-is-nature/) [Laure Lacornette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laure-lacornette/) > [I liken the Queen thing to being in a worship service. Everyone comes having grown up with this music. It's in their blood, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-martel/i-liken-the-queen-thing-to-being-in-a-worship-service-everyone-comes/) [Marc Martel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-martel/) > [The supreme thing is worship. The attitude of worship is the attitude of a subject bent before the King... The fundamental thought is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-campbell-morgan/the-supreme-thing-is-worship-the-attitude-of-worship-is-the-attitude/) [G. Campbell Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-campbell-morgan/) > [Everyone worships something. The only choice you get is what to worship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/everyone-worships-something-the-only-choice-you-get-is-what-to-worship/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [We must worship in truth. Worship is not just an emotional exercise but a response of the heart built on truth about God. "The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-w-lutzer/we-must-worship-in-truth-worship-is-not-just-an-emotional-exercise/) [Erwin W. Lutzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erwin-w-lutzer/) > [“God is after the truth in your worship”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/god-is-after-the-truth-in-your-worship/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) ## 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. 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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. 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But he has been a Democrat for most of his adult life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randi-weingarten/mike-bloomberg-may-be-a-republican-these-days-but-he-has-been-a/) [Randi Weingarten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randi-weingarten/) > [“She could not remember ever being truly happy in her adult life; her years with her mother had been built up devotedly around small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-jackson/she-could-not-remember-ever-being-truly-happy-in-her-adult-life-her/) [Shirley Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-jackson/) > [“So, I begin each day with a gesture of cynicism, and close it with a gesture of faith; or, if you prefer, begin it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barth/so-i-begin-each-day-with-a-gesture-of-cynicism-and-close-it-with-a/) [John Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barth/) > [I was pretty poor for a long time. Not \*poor\* poor. But college student poor. 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But coming out of the rainbow tunnel, the liminal portal between Marin and San…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-hutchins/we-are-all-of-course-wayfaring-strangers-on-this-earth-but-coming-out/) [Scott Hutchins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-hutchins/) [Browse all 431 Adult life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adult-life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. 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