"Welcome to the world of reality - there is no audience. No one to applaud, to admire. No one to see you. Do you understand? Here is the truth — actual heroism receives no ovation, entertains no one. No one queues up to see it. No one is interested.... True heroism is minutes, hours, weeks, year upon year of the quiet, precise, judicious exercise of probity and care — with no one there to see or cheer. This is the world."~ David Foster Wallace from his novella Something to Do with Paying Attention
Wednesday, 1 October 2025
"Welcome to the world of reality - there is no audience."
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Great quote. It aligns with something from a very different source I read. I’m paraphrasing, but it essentially said that men should go about improving themselves and achieving what they want in life, telling nobody else about it. It’s not to be taken over-literally. If somebody asked you what you did today you might tell them. It’s not that you need to keep it a secret. It’s that you do it for your own reasons and not for anybody’s approval or validation. Not even your beloved. When you’ve reached the point of feeling no strong desire to tell anyone else what you’ve achieved, you’ve achieved real freedom.
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