“A Democratic Spirit is one that combines rigor and humility, i. e., passionate conviction plus sedulous respect for the convictions of others. As any American knows, this is a very difficult spirit to cultivate and maintain, particularly when it comes to issues you feel strongly about. Equally tough is a D. S.'s criterion of 100 percent intellectual integrity--you have to be willing to look honestly at yourself and your motives for believing what you believe, and do it more or less continually.”

— David Foster Wallace

"Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage." Harper's Magazine, April 2001.
Essays

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David Foster Wallace 185

American fiction writer and essayist 1962–2008

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