--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The really important kind of freedom…" description: "\"“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people an..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/594/david-foster-wallace-161_discipline_the-really-important-kind-of-freedom-inv_2035398.jpg" --- # The really important kind of freedom involves attention… ![“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. That is being taught how to think. The…” quote by David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/594/david-foster-wallace-161_discipline_the-really-important-kind-of-freedom-inv_2035398.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/594/david-foster-wallace-161_discipline_the-really-important-kind-of-freedom-inv_2035398.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/594/david-foster-wallace-161_discipline_the-really-important-kind-of-freedom-inv_2035398.jpg) > ““The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. That is being taught how to think. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the "rat race" — the constant, gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.”” [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. True freedom requires disciplined attention, caring for others, and continual effort, unlike the unconscious “rat race.” **In simple terms:** Freedom is disciplined caring and effort. Key Takeaway Cultivate attentive, caring habits. Themes freedom attention discipline Mood reflective serious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - volunteering - mentorship - daily reflection - community service Key Concepts ethical responsibility self‑control mindful living Questions to Reflect On - How can you maintain attention without fatigue? - What small acts of care can you practice daily? A Different Perspective Hard to sustain constant effort; risk of burnout. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Awareness Discipline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awareness-discipline-1744074/) [Discipline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discipline/) [Every day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-day/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Freedom Involves](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom-involves-336792/) [Freedom Taught](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom-taught-582628/) [Kind Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind-freedom-482341/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Rat race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rat-race/) [Real freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-freedom/) ## Related quotes > [The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-really-important-kind-of-freedom-involves-attention-and-awareness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-really-important-kind-of-freedom-involves-attention-and-awareness-3/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“The really important kind of freedom involves attention ad awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/the-really-important-kind-of-freedom-involves-attention-ad-awareness/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [The really important kind of freedom involves being able truly to care about other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster/the-really-important-kind-of-freedom-involves-being-able-truly-to/) [David Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster/) > [“There are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/there-are-all-different-kinds-of-freedom-and-the-kind-that-is-most-2/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“There are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/there-are-all-different-kinds-of-freedom-and-the-kind-that-is-most/) [David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-foster-wallace/) > [“Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they're evil or sinful; it is that they are unconscious. 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He taught that we are all greater than we know and that wisdom is the means to freedom.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/what-he-taught-was-very-simple-he-taught-that-we-are-all-greater-than/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“Here, both the humblest and the most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-sarkozy-addressing-congress-in-2007/here-both-the-humblest-and-the-most-illustrious-citizens-alike-know/) [Nicolas Sarkozy Addressing Congress in 2007](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-sarkozy-addressing-congress-in-2007/) > [We can't bypass our heritage. We can't bypass the knowledge of who we are. You don't take a DNA test to see if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-kennedy/we-can-t-bypass-our-heritage-we-can-t-bypass-the-knowledge-of-who-we/) [Anthony Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-kennedy/) > [Prison was a blessing. Going to prison was the greatest thing that happened to me. It showed me that I wasn't infallible. It showed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-james/prison-was-a-blessing-going-to-prison-was-the-greatest-thing-that/) [Rick James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-james/) > [I hope that more children have the same opportunities as me, with the same parents as me, that let me be an individual, who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-weir/i-hope-that-more-children-have-the-same-opportunities-as-me-with-the/) [Johnny Weir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-weir/) > [Human freedom involves our capacity to pause between the stimulus and response and, in that pause, to choose the one response toward which we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rollo-may/human-freedom-involves-our-capacity-to-pause-between-the-stimulus-and/) [Rollo May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rollo-may/) ## 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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Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-j-turner/) > [You can't have the fruits without the roots. It's the principle of sequencing: Private Victories proceed Public Victories. Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-covey/you-can-t-have-the-fruits-without-the-roots-it-s-the-principle-of/) [Stephen Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-covey/) > [Like a child exploring the attic of an old house on a rainy day, discovering a trunk full of treasure and then calling all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-h-peterson/like-a-child-exploring-the-attic-of-an-old-house-on-a-rainy-day/) [Eugene H. Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-h-peterson/) > [Exercise teaches you the pleasure of discipline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-fonda/exercise-teaches-you-the-pleasure-of-discipline/) [Jane Fonda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-fonda/) > [I'm always writing. I'm an obsessive. 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There's a season for sowing a season for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-ryan-blair/self-discipline-is-an-act-of-cultivation-it-require-you-to-connect/) [Gary Ryan Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-ryan-blair/) > [The individual, by means of the discipline imposed on him by sport, not only plays and finds relaxation from the various compulsions to which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-ellul/the-individual-by-means-of-the-discipline-imposed-on-him-by-sport-not/) [Jacques Ellul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-ellul/) > [Cheerfulness in most cheerful people is the rich and satisfying result of strenuous discipline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-percy-whipple/cheerfulness-in-most-cheerful-people-is-the-rich-and-satisfying/) [Edwin Percy Whipple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-percy-whipple/) > [Stay in your seat come times of trouble. Its only people who jump off the roller coaster who get hurt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-harvey/stay-in-your-seat-come-times-of-trouble-its-only-people-who-jump-off/) [Paul Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-harvey/) [Browse all 5,597 Discipline quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discipline/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. That is being taught how to think. 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