“Here’s the thing about constant surveillance—the question you must ask yourself is not “Am I being overheard?” but “Is anybody paying attention to me?””

— Sarah Zettel

Source: Bitter Angels (2009), Chapter 2 (p. 18)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Here’s the thing about constant surveillance—the question you must ask yourself is not “Am I being overheard?” but “Is …" by Sarah Zettel?

Sarah Zettel photo

Sarah Zettel 16

American writer 1966

Related quotes

“Twenty-five years ago I couldn't walk down the street without being recognized. Now I can put a cap on, walk anywhere and no one pays me any attention. They don't ask me about my movies and they don't ask me about my salad dressing because they don't know who I am. Am I happy about this? You bet.”

Paul Newman (1925–2008) American actor and film director

Quoted in Geoff Pevere, "Getting noticed: the spooky side of celebrity," http://www.toronto.com/movies/article/525796 toronto.com (2007-08-10)

“To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Kevin Strom, "All America Must Know the Terror That is Upon Us" http://www.amfirstbooks.com/IntroPages/ToolBarTopics/Articles/Featured_Authors/strom,_kevin/kevin_strom_works/Kevin_Strom_1991-1994/Kevin_A._Strom_19930814-ADV_All_America_Must_Know_the_Terror_That_Is_Upon_Us.html (1993)
Misattributed
Variant: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize."

“I will use anybody I must. You said it yourself; I am who I am. And I'm using myself up, Perrin, because I have to. Just like I'll use anybody I have to. We don't have a choice anymore. Not me, not you, not anybody!”

Robert Jordan (1948–2007) American writer

Rand al'Thor
(15 October 1994)

“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“The most important question you can ever ask yourself. It’s not what am I getting. It is what am I becoming.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Book Sometimes you win Sometimes you Learn

“From the simplest lyric to the most complex novel and densest drama, literature is asking us to pay attention. Pay attention to the frog. Pay attention to the west wind. Pay attention to the boy on the raft, the lady in the tower, the old man on the train. In sum, pay attention to the world and all that dwells therein and thereby learn at last to pay attention to yourself and all that dwells therein.”

Frederick Buechner (1926) Poet, novelist, short story writer, theologian

Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter's Dictionary (1988)

“Well…… That's what you always forget, isn't it? I mean, you forget to pay attention to what's happening. And that's the same as not being here and now.”

Aldous Huxley book Island

Source: Island

“Everything comes at a price. Everthing in your life. The question you have to ask yourself is, what price are you willing to pay?”

Paullina Simons book The Summer Garden

Source: The Summer Garden

“There was constant talk about hewing things and ravaging things and splitting things asunder. Lots of big talk of things being mighty, and of things being riven, and of things being in thrall to other things, but very little attention given, as I now realise, to the laundry.”

Douglas Adams The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), Ch. 18

“There are two questions a man must ask himself: The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?'

If you ever get these questions in the wrong order you are in trouble.”

Sam Keen (1931) author, professor, and philosopher

Source: Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man

Related topics