--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The difference between homicide and…" description: "\"“The difference between homicide and suicide is mostly a matter of where you perceive the door top to the cage to be.”\" — David Foster Wallace" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/003/david-foster-wallace-161_suicide_the-difference-between-homicide-and-suic_1638642.jpg" --- # The difference between homicide and suicide is mostly a… ![“The difference between homicide and suicide is mostly a matter of where you perceive the door top to the cage to be.” quote by David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/003/david-foster-wallace-161_suicide_the-difference-between-homicide-and-suic_1638642.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/003/david-foster-wallace-161_suicide_the-difference-between-homicide-and-suic_1638642.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/003/david-foster-wallace-161_suicide_the-difference-between-homicide-and-suic_1638642.jpg) > ““The difference between homicide and suicide is mostly a matter of where you perceive the door top to the cage to be.”” [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. It highlights how perspective shapes how we view life‑ending actions, suggesting that the line between self‑destruction and external violence is often a matter of perception. **In simple terms:** Perspective changes how we see self‑harm vs. murder. Key Takeaway Recognize how framing influences moral judgment. Themes perception morality psychology existentialism Mood reflective somber Type philosophical critical thought‑provoking When to use this quote - personal crisis - mental health discussions - philosophical debates - ethical counseling Key Concepts subjectivity ethical relativism identity control Questions to Reflect On - How does your framing affect judgments of others? - Can changing perspective alter personal decisions? A Different Perspective The quote may oversimplify complex psychological factors behind each act. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Difference Homicide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/difference-homicide-546935/) [Door Cage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/door-cage-546938/) [Homicide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homicide/) [Homicide Suicide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homicide-suicide-546936/) [Suicide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suicide/) [Suicide Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suicide-matter-546937/) ## Related quotes > [No homicide, it's suicide before I testify.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ace-hood/no-homicide-it-s-suicide-before-i-testify/) [Ace Hood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ace-hood/) > [“After a while he looked around the cage. No blanket. No food. No bunny. He heaved a big sigh and pushed at the door…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thea-harrison/after-a-while-he-looked-around-the-cage-no-blanket-no-food-no-bunny/) [Thea Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thea-harrison/) > [“Some people would have killed themselves and/or someone else if they were single; and some people would not have done that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/some-people-would-have-killed-themselves-and-or-someone-else-if-they/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [For if it is not lawful to take the law into our own hands and slay even a guilty person, whose death no public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/for-if-it-is-not-lawful-to-take-the-law-into-our-own-hands-and-slay/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [The laws that forbid the carrying of arms... serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-serve-rather-to-encourage/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [“You do know I’m the one person who can shoot you and make it look like justifiable homicide?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelly-laurenston/you-do-know-i-m-the-one-person-who-can-shoot-you-and-make-it-look/) [Shelly Laurenston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelly-laurenston/) > [The more killing and homicides you have, the more havoc it prevents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-daley/the-more-killing-and-homicides-you-have-the-more-havoc-it-prevents/) [Richard M. Daley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-daley/) > [If I had multiple lives, I'd like to do many things, including being a homicide investigator. I'm not brave enough to chase people and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veena-sud/if-i-had-multiple-lives-i-d-like-to-do-many-things-including-being-a/) [Veena Sud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veena-sud/) > [It's odd about tattoos. I've talked to several hundred men convicted of homicide-multiple homicide, in most cases. The only common denominate- I could find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/truman-capote/it-s-odd-about-tattoos-i-ve-talked-to-several-hundred-men-convicted/) [Truman Capote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/truman-capote/) > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Honour is a homicide and a bloodspiller, that gangs about making frays in the street; but Credit is a decent honest man, that sits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-scott/honour-is-a-homicide-and-a-bloodspiller-that-gangs-about-making-frays/) [Walter Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-scott/) > [If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/if-you-look-in-general-at-people-who-live-in-anarchy-they-have-quite/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/for-an-unarmed-man-may-be-attacked-with-greater-confidence-than-an/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [If your opponent is playing several shots in vain attempts to extricate himself from a bunker, do not stand near him and audibly count…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-vardon/if-your-opponent-is-playing-several-shots-in-vain-attempts-to/) [Harry Vardon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-vardon/) > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) ## 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 Homicide quotes > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [If your opponent is playing several shots in vain attempts to extricate himself from a bunker, do not stand near him and audibly count…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-vardon/if-your-opponent-is-playing-several-shots-in-vain-attempts-to/) [Harry Vardon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-vardon/) > [For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/for-an-unarmed-man-may-be-attacked-with-greater-confidence-than-an/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/if-you-look-in-general-at-people-who-live-in-anarchy-they-have-quite/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [Honour is a homicide and a bloodspiller, that gangs about making frays in the street; but Credit is a decent honest man, that sits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-scott/honour-is-a-homicide-and-a-bloodspiller-that-gangs-about-making-frays/) [Walter Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-scott/) > [Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-disarm-only-those-who-are-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [It's odd about tattoos. I've talked to several hundred men convicted of homicide-multiple homicide, in most cases. The only common denominate- I could find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/truman-capote/it-s-odd-about-tattoos-i-ve-talked-to-several-hundred-men-convicted/) [Truman Capote](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/truman-capote/) > [If I had multiple lives, I'd like to do many things, including being a homicide investigator. I'm not brave enough to chase people and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veena-sud/if-i-had-multiple-lives-i-d-like-to-do-many-things-including-being-a/) [Veena Sud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veena-sud/) > [The more killing and homicides you have, the more havoc it prevents.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-m-daley/the-more-killing-and-homicides-you-have-the-more-havoc-it-prevents/) [Richard M. Daley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-m-daley/) > [“You do know I’m the one person who can shoot you and make it look like justifiable homicide?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelly-laurenston/you-do-know-i-m-the-one-person-who-can-shoot-you-and-make-it-look/) [Shelly Laurenston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelly-laurenston/) > [The laws that forbid the carrying of arms... serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-beccaria/the-laws-that-forbid-the-carrying-of-arms-serve-rather-to-encourage/) [Cesare Beccaria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-beccaria/) > [Costa Rica, with its tourist-based economy and lack of a national army, has focused on keeping safe its beaches, parks and other public draws.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-chinchilla/costa-rica-with-its-tourist-based-economy-and-lack-of-a-national-army/) [Laura Chinchilla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-chinchilla/) > [Progressives and Islamists are indeed on the same side. 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James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-d-james-2/) [Browse all 149 Homicide quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homicide/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The difference between homicide and suicide is mostly a matter of where you perceive the door top to the cage to be.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Foster Wallace" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-difference-between-homicide-and-suicide-is-mostly-a-matter-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Homicide" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-difference-between-homicide-and-suicide-is-mostly-a-matter-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/003/david-foster-wallace-161_suicide_the-difference-between-homicide-and-suic_1638642.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/003/david-foster-wallace-161_suicide_the-difference-between-homicide-and-suic_1638642.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/003/david-foster-wallace-161_suicide_the-difference-between-homicide-and-suic_1638642.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The difference between homicide and suicide is mostly a matter of where you perceive the door top to the…” — 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": "“The difference between homicide and suicide...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-difference-between-homicide-and-suicide-is-mostly-a-matter-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-difference-between-homicide-and-suicide-is-mostly-a-matter-of/#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 } } ] } ```