“a large percentage of bright young men and women locate the impetus behind their career choice in the belief that they are fundamentally different from the common run of man, unique and in certain crucial ways superior, more as it were central, meaningful - what else could explain the fact that they themselves have been at the exact center of all they've experienced for the whole 20 years of their conscious lives? - and that they can and will make a difference in their chosen field simply by the fact of their unique and central presence to it...” MenWayYearsHas BeensDifferentWholeFactsRunningYoungCertainChoicesBeliefDifferencesCommonBehindsCareersFieldsUniqueConsciousMen And WomenMeaningfulChosenSuperiorsYoung ManMaking A DifferenceCrucialPercentagesImpetusCareers Choices Author:David Foster Wallace
“A convention is a social pattern we have chosen to prefer over whatever the raw world simply proffers. It is a sign of the operation of the mind, drawing the assent of a sufficient number of other minds so that the agreement will be widely operative. A convention is not a custom; a custom is a habit in which a sufficient number acquiesce. A custom can appear as a convention, but it is really a lesser act, the result of passive acceptance rather than of the imposition of design. It is the difference between learning to live by the annual flooding of the river or by a calendar.” WorldMindSocialDifferencesResultsNumbersDesignAcceptanceHabitRiversPatternsDrawingChosenOperationsSufficientAgreementLive ByCustomsConventionsPassiveCalendarsAnnualsFloodingImposition Author:A. Bartlett Giamatti
“I get the most gratification in life by feeling like I'm doing something purposeful and meaningful and makes a difference to other people, and that comes with its pros and cons. I've accepted this is the kind of person that I am, and this is the path I've chosen in life - and I'm stickin' with it.” PeopleKindPersonsFeelingsDifferencesPathAcceptedMeaningfulChosenMaking A DifferenceGratificationPros And Cons Author:Steve Grand