--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...this was depressing, much the way…" description: "\"“...this was depressing, much the way discovering that somebody is easy to manipulate is always a little depressing.”\" — David Foster Wallace" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/david-foster-wallace-161_depressing_this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discove_198236.jpg" --- # ...this was depressing, much the way discovering that… ![“...this was depressing, much the way discovering that somebody is easy to manipulate is always a little depressing.” quote by David Foster Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/david-foster-wallace-161_depressing_this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discove_198236.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/david-foster-wallace-161_depressing_this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discove_198236.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/david-foster-wallace-161_depressing_this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discove_198236.jpg) > ““...this was depressing, much the way discovering that somebody is easy to manipulate is always a little depressing.”” [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. Recognizing how easily people can be manipulated can create a sense of disappointment and melancholy. **In simple terms:** Realizing manipulation is disheartening. Key Takeaway Stay aware, protect your autonomy. Themes psychology manipulation disappointment Mood reflective somber Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - media consumption - political discourse Key Concepts cognitive bias ethical awareness Questions to Reflect On - How does awareness of manipulation affect trust? - Can we use this insight to foster resilience? A Different Perspective It may overlook the potential for positive influence and growth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Depressing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/depressing/) ## Related quotes > [Sometimes it's a little depressing - why does the world need any more pictures?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-fulford/sometimes-it-s-a-little-depressing-why-does-the-world-need-any-more/) Jason Fulford > [“Virtue is an excellent thing and we should all strive after it, but it can sometimes be a little depressing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-pym/virtue-is-an-excellent-thing-and-we-should-all-strive-after-it-but-it/) [Barbara Pym](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-pym/) > [“He was sort of beautiful. In his own dark, depressing way, but still. She was going to miss that stupid fucking beautiful face.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allie-burke/he-was-sort-of-beautiful-in-his-own-dark-depressing-way-but-still-she/) [Allie Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allie-burke/) > [Maybe it's a little depressing to think that my vision of a perfect world is actually so messed up, but I think it means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/maybe-it-s-a-little-depressing-to-think-that-my-vision-of-a-perfect/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [I like swimming or go to the gym, but I am alone a lot, and that can get a little depressing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-hart/i-like-swimming-or-go-to-the-gym-but-i-am-alone-a-lot-and-that-can/) [Beth Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-hart/) > [“To look at my world as my only plane of existence was so limiting, and a little depressing. I needed the boundless worlds I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-ray/to-look-at-my-world-as-my-only-plane-of-existence-was-so-limiting-and/) [Katie Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-ray/) > [I have often noticed that the two nuclear powers on the Indian subcontinent, India and Pakistan, attribute to Kashmiris an inferior intellect, a lineage,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nyla-ali-khan/i-have-often-noticed-that-the-two-nuclear-powers-on-the-indian/) [Nyla Ali Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nyla-ali-khan/) > [To cover politics in Washington allows you to live in the very, very wide gap between what the actual truth is, and how people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-leibovich/to-cover-politics-in-washington-allows-you-to-live-in-the-very-very/) [Mark Leibovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-leibovich/) > [Another person is, at the heart of it, unknowable. And if you cannot know a person enough to always guess what they’re capable of,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/another-person-is-at-the-heart-of-it-unknowable-and-if-you-cannot/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [Nothing focuses attention like a real deadline. If you are in a field where life and death, or having a job or not having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-perry/nothing-focuses-attention-like-a-real-deadline-if-you-are-in-a-field/) [John Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-perry/) > [I think Frank Capra was a much craftier filmmaker, a wonderful filmmaker. He had enormous technique, and he knew how to manipulate the public…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/i-think-frank-capra-was-a-much-craftier-filmmaker-a-wonderful/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) > [Thinking is not the ability to manipulate language; it’s the ability to manipulate concepts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-lamport/thinking-is-not-the-ability-to-manipulate-language-it-s-the-ability/) [Leslie Lamport](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-lamport/) > [Science manipulates things and gives up living in them. It makes its own limited models of things; operating upon these indices or variables to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maurice-merleau-ponty/science-manipulates-things-and-gives-up-living-in-them-it-makes-its/) [Maurice Merleau-Ponty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maurice-merleau-ponty/) > [Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/why-couldn-t-jesus-command-us-to-obsess-over-everything-to-try-to/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [A lot of indigenous cultures are deeply involved in working with ancestor spirits, elemental spirits, and demons. Many of these cultures feel that, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-pinchbeck/a-lot-of-indigenous-cultures-are-deeply-involved-in-working-with/) [Daniel Pinchbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-pinchbeck/) ## 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 Depressing quotes > [We don't make glamorous movies today. Everything now is very realistic, artistic - and depressing. When is the last time you you saw a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-head/we-don-t-make-glamorous-movies-today-everything-now-is-very-realistic/) [Edith Head](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-head/) > [There is not a country on earth that could get its fiscal house in order by shrinking opportunity and depressing growth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-o-malley/there-is-not-a-country-on-earth-that-could-get-its-fiscal-house-in/) [Martin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-o-malley/) > [It is true that from a behavioral economics perspective we are fallible, easily confused, not that smart, and often irrational. We are more like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-ariely/it-is-true-that-from-a-behavioral-economics-perspective-we-are/) [Dan Ariely](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-ariely/) > [Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/of-all-the-bewildering-things-about-a-new-country-the-absence-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I think it is kind of depressing how few female filmmakers there are. I think it is in general depressing how few women there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanne-bier/i-think-it-is-kind-of-depressing-how-few-female-filmmakers-there-are/) [Susanne Bier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanne-bier/) > [We're in a situation where talented, motivated school leavers and graduates can send off a hundred CVs and not get a reply, and where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jameela-jamil/we-re-in-a-situation-where-talented-motivated-school-leavers-and/) [Jameela Jamil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jameela-jamil/) > [It's so Canada. On some level, you laugh, but on another level, it's just depressing. We pride ourselves: We're not like the bad old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/constance-backhouse/it-s-so-canada-on-some-level-you-laugh-but-on-another-level-it-s-just/) [Constance Backhouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/constance-backhouse/) > [It is, of course, a luxury to create art and, on top of this, to insist on expressing one's own artistic opinion. Nothing is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-beckmann/it-is-of-course-a-luxury-to-create-art-and-on-top-of-this-to-insist/) [Max Beckmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-beckmann/) > [Antidepressants sure kill your sexual life...Now, THAT'S depressing!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ozzy-osbourne/antidepressants-sure-kill-your-sexual-life-now-that-s-depressing/) [Ozzy Osbourne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ozzy-osbourne/) > [“They went through the last of the cars and then walked up the track to the locomotive and climbed up to the catwalk. Rust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-went-through-the-last-of-the-cars-and-then-walked-up-the-track/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [I read the most extravagant things about people who suffer and depress because of things written about them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-jagger/i-read-the-most-extravagant-things-about-people-who-suffer-and/) [Mick Jagger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-jagger/) > [Take the story of Cain and Abel. Why were we given that story? Scientifically, you may have an explanation for it, but I'm not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/take-the-story-of-cain-and-abel-why-were-we-given-that-story/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [Despite my extremely modest prices, dealers and art lovers are turning their backs on me. It is very depressing to see the lack of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claude-monet/despite-my-extremely-modest-prices-dealers-and-art-lovers-are-turning/) [Claude Monet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claude-monet/) > [I've seen few things more depressing than the end-of-season Giants-Padres series in 2001 in which Barry Bonds hit his 68th homer of the year…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-rodrick/i-ve-seen-few-things-more-depressing-than-the-end-of-season-giants/) [Stephen Rodrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-rodrick/) > [Everything we do really is just a little marker on the long road to death. And sometimes that’s overwhelmingly depressing to me, and sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joss-whedon/everything-we-do-really-is-just-a-little-marker-on-the-long-road-to/) [Joss Whedon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joss-whedon/) [Browse all 888 Depressing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/depressing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“...this was depressing, much the way discovering that somebody is easy to manipulate is always a little depressing.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "David Foster Wallace" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discovering-that-somebody-is-easy-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Depressing" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discovering-that-somebody-is-easy-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/david-foster-wallace-161_depressing_this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discove_198236.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/david-foster-wallace-161_depressing_this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discove_198236.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/david-foster-wallace-161_depressing_this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discove_198236.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“...this was depressing, much the way discovering that somebody is easy to manipulate is always a little…” — 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": "“...this was depressing, much the way...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discovering-that-somebody-is-easy-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-foster-wallace/this-was-depressing-much-the-way-discovering-that-somebody-is-easy-to/#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 } } ] } ```