--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For reasons that are not well understood…" description: "\"“For reasons that are not well understood, war's codes are safer for most of us than love's.”\" — David Foster Wallace" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/david-foster-wallace-161_love_for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood_1502766.jpg" --- # For reasons that are not well understood, war's codes are… ![“For reasons that are not well understood, war's codes are safer for most of us than love's.” quote by David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/david-foster-wallace-161_love_for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood_1502766.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/david-foster-wallace-161_love_for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood_1502766.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/david-foster-wallace-161_love_for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood_1502766.jpg) > ““For reasons that are not well understood, war's codes are safer for most of us than love's.”” [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. War’s rules feel clearer and more predictable than love’s chaotic, unpredictable nature, making conflict seem safer than intimacy. **In simple terms:** War is predictable, love is messy. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty in love. Themes war love uncertainty human nature relationships Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - dating - conflict resolution - personal relationships - political discourse Key Concepts philosophy psychology sociology Questions to Reflect On - Can you trust love’s unpredictability? - What makes war feel safer? A Different Perspective Love can be rewarding despite risk. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Codes Safer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/codes-safer-5513288/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Meaning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaning/) [Programming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/programming/) [Reasons Understood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reasons-understood-3775320/) [Safer Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/safer-love-1312094/) [Understood War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understood-war-2500143/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [War Codes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-codes-5513287/) ## Related quotes > [What's important is that people give the kinds of reasons that can be understood and appraised apart from their particular comprehensive doctrines: for example,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rawls/what-s-important-is-that-people-give-the-kinds-of-reasons-that-can-be/) [John Rawls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rawls/) > [It's the simple thing's in life that's hard to understand for reasons not understood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-ward/it-s-the-simple-thing-s-in-life-that-s-hard-to-understand-for-reasons/) [Linda Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-ward/) > [“I felt there was no one as kind as you; no one who gave me reasons that I understood for doing what at first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/i-felt-there-was-no-one-as-kind-as-you-no-one-who-gave-me-reasons/) [Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/) > [“Love in pencil is safer than love in life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-c-stevens/love-in-pencil-is-safer-than-love-in-life/) [Courtney C. Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-c-stevens/) > [Safer than we are.” I told Franny. “Safer than love.” “let me tell ya kid,” Franny said to me, squeezing my hand. “Everything’s safer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/safer-than-we-are-i-told-franny-safer-than-love-let-me-tell-ya-kid/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [“I am an orange construction cone, and I say to you, “Caution.” This is my advice for love—and for driving while blindfolded, which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jarod-kintz/i-am-an-orange-construction-cone-and-i-say-to-you-caution-this-is-my/) [Jarod Kintz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jarod-kintz/) > [You can blame your ugliness for keeping people at bay, when in reality you're crippled by the thought of letting another person close enough…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/you-can-blame-your-ugliness-for-keeping-people-at-bay-when-in-reality/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [“Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life love knocks our doors, enters our lives & changes it forever. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anamika-mishra/once-in-a-while-right-in-the-middle-of-an-ordinary-life-love-knocks/) [Anamika Mishra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anamika-mishra/) > [“You can believe, for example, that a dead-end job is a career. You can blame your ugliness for keeping people at bay, when in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/you-can-believe-for-example-that-a-dead-end-job-is-a-career-you-can/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [With a book called 'Keeping Score,' I really did want to write a book about the Korean War, because I felt that it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-sue-park/with-a-book-called-keeping-score-i-really-did-want-to-write-a-book/) [Linda Sue Park](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-sue-park/) > [I understood why war zones are called 'theaters' because they frame a kind of play acting or, worse, deceit, that can stain a human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gretel-ehrlich/i-understood-why-war-zones-are-called-theaters-because-they-frame-a/) [Gretel Ehrlich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gretel-ehrlich/) > [“You were just babies in the war—like the ones upstairs!” I nodded that this was true. We had been foolish virgins in the war,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/you-were-just-babies-in-the-war-like-the-ones-upstairs-i-nodded-that/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“But you’re not going to write it that way, are you.” This wasn’t a question. It was an accusation. “I—I don’t know,” I said.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/but-you-re-not-going-to-write-it-that-way-are-you-this-wasn-t-a/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [It must be thoroughly understood that war is a necessity, and that the more readily we accept it,the less will be the ardor of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/it-must-be-thoroughly-understood-that-war-is-a-necessity-and-that-the/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [Libertarians have always battled the age-old scourge of war. They understood that war brought death and destruction on a grand scale, disrupted family and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-boaz/libertarians-have-always-battled-the-age-old-scourge-of-war-they/) [David Boaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-boaz/) ## 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 Love quotes > [Whatever meaning 'Annie's Song' had for me on a personal level, there was also a larger context. It could just as easily have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-denver/whatever-meaning-annie-s-song-had-for-me-on-a-personal-level-there/) [John Denver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-denver/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I need a bath." He chuckled. "You smell of smoke, as do I." The duke turned, leaning heavily on his cane. "Jameson, open the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-hawkins/i-need-a-bath-he-chuckled-you-smell-of-smoke-as-do-i-the-duke-turned/) [Karen Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-hawkins/) > [I love going to Columbia, Missouri. That is a really underrated campus. It shocked me when I went there because I really didn't know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirk-herbstreit/i-love-going-to-columbia-missouri-that-is-a-really-underrated-campus/) [Kirk Herbstreit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirk-herbstreit/) > [Life works most perfectly when a reciprocal love relationship is in place between man and God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/life-works-most-perfectly-when-a-reciprocal-love-relationship-is-in/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [We talk to God--that is prayer; God talks to us--that is inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-emilie-cady/we-talk-to-god-that-is-prayer-god-talks-to-us-that-is-inspiration/) [H. Emilie Cady](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-emilie-cady/) > [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/) [Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/) > [You cant be controlling in improv.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-walsh/you-cant-be-controlling-in-improv/) [Matt Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-walsh/) > [Everyone needs someone to love, and I choose you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/everyone-needs-someone-to-love-and-i-choose-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I think, here's what I've realized from interviewing people, and I've been very open about my Catholicism and my love of Christ and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-mohr/i-think-here-s-what-i-ve-realized-from-interviewing-people-and-i-ve/) [Jay Mohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-mohr/) > [“To be loved by a man, truly loved, made a woman feel as if she could burst. Of course, Lia was strong and could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melody-anne/to-be-loved-by-a-man-truly-loved-made-a-woman-feel-as-if-she-could/) [Melody Anne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melody-anne/) > [So when you take those tears, don't look to see I'm alright. …\*Seal - Violet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-nickel/so-when-you-take-those-tears-don-t-look-to-see-i-m-alright-seal-violet/) [Eric Nickel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-nickel/) > [Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-love/two-things-revolutionised-life-moving-to-the-countryside-and-falling/) [Nick Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-love/) > [“That horrible stinging sensation returned, the muscles behind my eyes straining as the first tear began to fall. “I’m scared, too. For eighteen months…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/devon-ashley/that-horrible-stinging-sensation-returned-the-muscles-behind-my-eyes/) [Devon Ashley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/devon-ashley/) > [I could program a 'fabulous, I love it' kind of hit season right now. I'm more interested in breaking boundaries, telling a story, defying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-c-wolfe/i-could-program-a-fabulous-i-love-it-kind-of-hit-season-right-now-i-m/) [George C. Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-c-wolfe/) [Browse all 233,035 Love quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“For reasons that are not well understood, war's codes are safer for most of us than love's.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Foster Wallace" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood-war-s-codes-are-safer-for/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Love" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood-war-s-codes-are-safer-for/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/david-foster-wallace-161_love_for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood_1502766.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/david-foster-wallace-161_love_for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood_1502766.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/756/david-foster-wallace-161_love_for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood_1502766.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For reasons that are not well understood, war's codes are safer for most of us than love's.” — 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": "“For reasons that are not well...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood-war-s-codes-are-safer-for/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/for-reasons-that-are-not-well-understood-war-s-codes-are-safer-for/#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 } } ] } ```