Am I a good person? Deep down, do I even really want to be a good person, or do I only want to seem like a good person so that people (including myse… - David Foster Wallace

To experience commitment as the loss of options, a type of death, the death of childhood's limitless possibility, of the flattery of choice without duress-this will happen, mark me. Childhood's end.

I think the world divides neatly into those who are excited by the managed induction of terror and those who are not. I do not find terror exciting. I find it terrifying. One of my basic goals is to subject my nervous system to as little total terror as possible. The cruel paradox of course is that this kind of makeup usually goes hand in hand with a delicate nervous system that's extremely easy to terrify.

It is a fact of life that certain people are corrosive to others' self esteem simply as a function of who and what they are.