--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think a lot of the misery that people…" description: "\"I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.\" — Ian Bogost" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f8/ian-bogost-9716_infinite_i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people_230830.jpg" --- # I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes… ![“I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.” quote by Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f8/ian-bogost-9716_infinite_i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people_230830.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f8/ian-bogost-9716_infinite_i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people_230830.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f8/ian-bogost-9716_infinite_i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people_230830.jpg) > “I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.” [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Boundlessness can cause anxiety; infinite possibilities may lead to misery if not grounded **In simple terms:** Too many choices can cause distress Key Takeaway Limit choices to manageable options Themes psychology design existentialism Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal goal setting - creative projects - mental health strategies Key Concepts choice overload decision fatigue Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance freedom with focus? - What strategies keep infinite possibilities from overwhelming you? A Different Perspective The quote may ignore benefits of openness ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Boundlessness Infinite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boundlessness-infinite-2336982/) [Infinite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infinite/) [Infinite possibilities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infinite-possibilities/) [Infinite Possibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infinite-possibility-749428/) [Misery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misery/) [Misery People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misery-people-793621/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Possibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possibility/) [Sensation Boundlessness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensation-boundlessness-2336983/) [Sensations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensations/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [The impact of space activities is nothing less than the galvanizing of hope and imagination for human life continuum into a future of infinite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vanna-bonta/the-impact-of-space-activities-is-nothing-less-than-the-galvanizing/) [Vanna Bonta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vanna-bonta/) > [Time and again human consciousness fixates, and slams the door on its greatest gift, the open-endedness of infinite possibility. As a result we do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-arguelles/time-and-again-human-consciousness-fixates-and-slams-the-door-on-its/) [Jose Arguelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-arguelles/) > [A writer can do nothing for men more necessary, satisfying, than just simply to reveal to them the infinite possibility of their own souls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/a-writer-can-do-nothing-for-men-more-necessary-satisfying-than-just/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Consider the possibility of infinite possibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/consider-the-possibility-of-infinite-possibility/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [Life itself must be founded upon the infinite possibility for choice and accident. And if we cannot prove that it is, we must believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/life-itself-must-be-founded-upon-the-infinite-possibility-for-choice/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) > [The point is, Mrs. MacDonagh, that the universe is exactly the size that your soul can encompass. Some people live in extremely small worlds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-hearne/the-point-is-mrs-macdonagh-that-the-universe-is-exactly-the-size-that/) [Kevin Hearne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-hearne/) > [The opportunities for infinite possibility exist no matter what age we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/the-opportunities-for-infinite-possibility-exist-no-matter-what-age/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [Rather than a universe of static certainty, at the most fundamental level of matter, the world and its relationships were uncertain and unpredictable, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-mctaggart/rather-than-a-universe-of-static-certainty-at-the-most-fundamental/) [Lynne McTaggart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-mctaggart/) > [“In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-moran/in-this-moment-there-is-plenty-of-time-in-this-moment-you-are/) [Victoria Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-moran/) > [Infinite possibility in all things is a certainty. That pretty much covers theology and philosophy for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fulghum/infinite-possibility-in-all-things-is-a-certainty-that-pretty-much/) [Robert Fulghum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fulghum/) > [Politics creates an almost endless time horizon into the future. ... As governor I had the incredible luxury of being able to dream on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-m-kunin/politics-creates-an-almost-endless-time-horizon-into-the-future-as/) [Madeleine M. Kunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-m-kunin/) > [What teenagers are ready to laugh at is the misery of other people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jordan-peele/what-teenagers-are-ready-to-laugh-at-is-the-misery-of-other-people/) [Jordan Peele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jordan-peele/) > [If God himself wills such misery on people whom I love, then I say I will deal with him](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eldridge-cleaver/if-god-himself-wills-such-misery-on-people-whom-i-love-then-i-say-i/) [Eldridge Cleaver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eldridge-cleaver/) > [“The world runs,” Lowell said, “on the fuel of this endless, fathomless misery. People know it, but they don’t mind what they don’t see.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-joy-fowler/the-world-runs-lowell-said-on-the-fuel-of-this-endless-fathomless/) [Karen Joy Fowler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-joy-fowler/) > [The only way out of today's misery is for people to become worthy of each other's trust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-schweitzer/the-only-way-out-of-today-s-misery-is-for-people-to-become-worthy-of/) [Albert Schweitzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-schweitzer/) ## More by Ian Bogost > [I think the most important way to understand play is that it's this property that's in things. Like there's play in a mechanism. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-the-most-important-way-to-understand-play-is-that-it-s-this/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Once you get yourself on that path where you're willing to find something delightful in laundry and in dishwashers, it means that you train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/once-you-get-yourself-on-that-path-where-you-re-willing-to-find/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Our ideas of happiness, gratification, contentment, satisfaction, all demand that those feelings come from within us. If you flip that on its head and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/our-ideas-of-happiness-gratification-contentment-satisfaction-all/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [When we use this word fun, it sort of bangs up the ordinary and the extraordinary altogether.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/when-we-use-this-word-fun-it-sort-of-bangs-up-the-ordinary-and-the/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [We think we want enjoyment, and that enjoyment is incompatible with work, and somehow we have to import the pleasure into these miserable experiences.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/we-think-we-want-enjoyment-and-that-enjoyment-is-incompatible-with/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [You can experience play at work, not because you're messing around or wasting time or something, but because you're looking really deeply and seriously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/you-can-experience-play-at-work-not-because-you-re-messing-around-or/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Actually a lot of the supposedly serious and meaningful and worthwhile content on the podcast or on the television is no more or less…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/actually-a-lot-of-the-supposedly-serious-and-meaningful-and/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [There's just an enormous vast universe of possible intrigue out there and why not pay attention to it? Because then you're not burdened with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/there-s-just-an-enormous-vast-universe-of-possible-intrigue-out-there/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Generally speaking, when people use the word fun, it's like a placeholder. You know, "How was your evening?" "Oh it was fun."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/generally-speaking-when-people-use-the-word-fun-it-s-like-a/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Wouldn't we all rather have the possibility of finding pleasure and delight in literally anything we might encounter? Instead of assuming that actually there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/wouldn-t-we-all-rather-have-the-possibility-of-finding-pleasure-and/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Fun has to do with habitual activities but then also terrifically novel or unusual ones. It works as a sort of strange milkshake of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/fun-has-to-do-with-habitual-activities-but-then-also-terrifically/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [“Irony keeps reality at a distance. It has become our primary method for combatting the external world’s incompatibility with our own desires. Today’s irony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/irony-keeps-reality-at-a-distance-it-has-become-our-primary-method/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Play isn't you being clever, or finding a trick, or finding a way of covering over your own misery, or persuading someone to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a-trick-or-finding-a-way-of/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [To me, being able to find gratification in more venues, rather than greater gratification in a few, seems like a much more sane way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/to-me-being-able-to-find-gratification-in-more-venues-rather-than/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [The whole idea of play is in finding, acknowledging, and then working with the natural constraints and limitations that you find in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/the-whole-idea-of-play-is-in-finding-acknowledging-and-then-working/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) [Explore all 70 Ian Bogost quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) ## More Infinite quotes > [There is no human nature, since there is no god to conceive it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/there-is-no-human-nature-since-there-is-no-god-to-conceive-it/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/on-the-brink-of-being-satiated-desire-still-appears-infinite/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [Man has an almost infinite capacity for taking things and people for granted and thereby missing out on the pleasure of being grateful that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/man-has-an-almost-infinite-capacity-for-taking-things-and-people-for/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [If I have a system it is limited to a recognition of what Kierkegaard called 'the infinite qualitative distinction' between time and eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/if-i-have-a-system-it-is-limited-to-a-recognition-of-what-kierkegaard/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) > [It has no future but itself Its infinite contain Its pastenlightened to perceive New periods of pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-has-no-future-but-itself-its-infinite-contain-its-pastenlightened/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Doctrine tied itself into infinite knots over the realities of sex.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/doctrine-tied-itself-into-infinite-knots-over-the-realities-of-sex/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [A lost love. Deny it who will, ridicule it, treat it as mere imagination and sentiment, the thing is and will be; and women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/a-lost-love-deny-it-who-will-ridicule-it-treat-it-as-mere-imagination/) [Dinah Maria Murlock Craik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/) > [“The God I know is the source of reality, rather than morality; the source of 'what is' rather than the source of 'what ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/parker-j-palmer/the-god-i-know-is-the-source-of-reality-rather-than-morality-the/) [Parker J. Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/parker-j-palmer/) > [The human body has been designed to resist an infinite number of changes and attacks brought about by its environment. The secret of good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-johnson/the-human-body-has-been-designed-to-resist-an-infinite-number-of/) [Harry Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-johnson/) > [Marvellous mercies and infinite love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/algernon-charles-swinburne/marvellous-mercies-and-infinite-love/) [Algernon Charles Swinburne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/algernon-charles-swinburne/) > [God is a reality of spirit He cannot be conceived as an object, not even as the very highest object. God is not to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolai-berdyaev/god-is-a-reality-of-spirit-he-cannot-be-conceived-as-an-object-not/) [Nikolai Berdyaev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolai-berdyaev/) > [If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-nothing-that-can-be-seen-can-either-be-god-or-represent-him-to-us/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) > [I've been working with a holistic specialist, trying to bring my body into balance, and part of making that happen is putting my mom's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corbin-bernsen/i-ve-been-working-with-a-holistic-specialist-trying-to-bring-my-body/) [Corbin Bernsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corbin-bernsen/) > [“the infinite Manhattan night.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-cohn/the-infinite-manhattan-night/) [Rachel Cohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-cohn/) [Browse all 3,421 Infinite quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/infinite/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ian Bogost" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people-experience-comes-from-that/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Infinite" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people-experience-comes-from-that/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f8/ian-bogost-9716_infinite_i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people_230830.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f8/ian-bogost-9716_infinite_i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people_230830.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f8/ian-bogost-9716_infinite_i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people_230830.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite…” — Ian Bogost", "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": "Ian Bogost", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I think a lot of the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people-experience-comes-from-that/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people-experience-comes-from-that/#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 } } ] } ```