When they were intro­duced, he made a wit­ti­cism, hop­ing to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hop­ing to be liked. Then each drove home alone, star­ing straight ahead, with the very same twist on their faces.

The man who’d intro­duced them didn’t much like either of them, though he acted as if he did, anx­ious as he was to pre­serve good rela­tions at all times. One never knew, after all, now did one now did one now did one.

- David Fos­ter Wal­lace, from Brief Inter­views with Hideous Men