An ad that pretends to be art is - at absolute best - like somebody who smiles warmly at you only because he wants something from you. This is dishonest, but what's sinister is the cumulative effect that such dishonesty has on us: since it offers a perfect facsimile or simulacrum of goodwill without goodwill's real spirit, it messes with our heads and eventually starts upping our defenses even in cases of genuine smiles and real art and true goodwill. It makes us feel confused and lonely and impotent and angry and scared. It causes despair. ✨ A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. Essay by David Foster Wallace, February 1, 1997.
More Author Quotes
- Dieting makes me want to murder everyone around me. ✨ David Foster Wallace (2004). The Broom of the System: A Novel, p.83, Penguin
- The integrity of my sleep has been forever compromised, sir. ✨ David Foster Wallace (2011). Infinite Jest, p.18, Hachette UK
- He said she went around with her feelings out in front of her with an arm around the feelings' windpipe and a Glock 9mm. to the feelings' temple like a terrorist with a hostage, daring you to shoot.
- Some words have to be explicitly uttered, Lenore. Only by actually uttering certain words does one really DO what one SAYS. 'Love' is one of those words, performative words. Some words can literally … ▶
- It's probably hard to feel any sort of Romantic spiritual connection to nature when you have to make your living from it. ✨ David Foster Wallace (2012). A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, p. … ▶
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