I mean the people who seriously, seriously play devote their lives to it sort of the way monks do. I mean you don't date, you go to bed at a certain time, you eat certain ways, you practice 10-12 hours a day. And I mean, the difference between practicing three hours a day and practicing 12 hours a day is everything. And I certainly never - I never trained seriously after the age of 16.
David Foster WallaceThe capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: "This is water." "This is water." It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out.
David Foster WallaceI like the fansโ sound at night. Do you? Itโs like somebody big far away goes like: itโsOKitโsOKitโsOKitโsOK, over and over. From very far away.
David Foster WallaceTalent is its own expectation, Jim: you either live up to it or it waves a hankie, receding forever.
David Foster WallaceIt was when I was the age where you can, as they say, "hear voices" without worrying that something is wrong with you. I "heard voices" all the time as a small child.
David Foster Wallace