Bliss - a-second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious - lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like youโve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and itโs like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom.
David Foster WallaceFiction is one of the few experiences where loneliness can be both confronted and relieved.
David Foster WallaceAnd when he came to, he was flat on his back on the beach in the freezing sand, and it was raining out of a low sky, and the tide was way out.
David Foster WallaceI had, by thirteen, developed a sort of Taoist hubris about my ability to control via non-control.
David Foster Wallace