Alain de Botton Quotes, Philosophy Quotes, Able Quotes

Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Philosophy Quotes , Able Quotes

When work is not going well, it's useful to remember that our identities stretch beyond what is on the business card, that we were people long before we became workers - and will continue to be human once we have put our tools down forever.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Long Quotes , People Quotes

...if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally bloody.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Love Quotes , May Quotes

Not being understood may be taken as a sign that there is much in one to understand.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Wisdom Quotes , Taken Quotes

The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Beautiful Quotes , Cry Quotes

So many complaints boil down to the belly ache of the fragile, mortal, ignored ego in a vast and indifferent universe.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Ego Quotes , Ignored Quotes

We may not agree with what religions are trying to teach us, but we can admire the institutional way in which they're doing it.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , God Quotes , Soul Quotes

People only get really interesting when they start to rattle the bars of their cages.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , People Quotes , Interesting Quotes

It is perhaps sad books that best console us when we are sad, and to lonely service stations that we should drive when there is no one for us to hold or love.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Lonely Quotes , Book Quotes

A good half of the art of living is resilience.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Art Quotes , Resilience Quotes

We accept the need to train extensively to fly a plane; but think instinct should be enough for marrying and raising kids.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Kids Quotes , Thinking Quotes

I thought about societies where exceptional fortunes are built up in industries with very little connection to out sincere and significant needs, industries where it is difficult to escape from the disparity between a seriousness of means and a triviality of ends.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Mean Quotes , Connections Quotes

Alcohol-inspired fights are a reminder of the price we pay for our daily submission at the altars of prudence and order.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Fighting Quotes , Order Quotes

In the gap between who we wish one day to be and who we are at present, must come pain, anxiety, envy and humiliation.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Pain Quotes , Envy Quotes

Instead of bringing back 1600 plants, we might return from our journeys with a collection of small unfêted but life-enhancing thoughts.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Travel Quotes , Journey Quotes

We are sad at home and blame the weather and the ugliness of the buildings, but on the tropical island we learn that the state of the skies and the appearance of our dwellings can never on their own underwrite our joy nor condemn us to misery.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Home Quotes , Dwelling Quotes

to design means forcing ourselves to unlearn what we believe we already know, patiently to take apart the mechanisms behind our reflexes and to acknowledge the mystery and stupefying complexity of everyday gestures like switching off a light of turning on a tap

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Believe Quotes , Mean Quotes

Literature deserves its prestige for one reason above all others - because it's a tool to help us live and die with a little bit more wisdom, goodness, and sanity.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Tools Quotes , Literature Quotes

In reality, the likelihood of reaching the pinnacle of capitalist society today is only marginally better than were the chances of being accepted into the French nobility four centuries ago, though at least an aristocratic age was franker, and therefore kinder, about the odds. It did not relentlessly play up the possibilities open to all, and so, in turn, did not cruelly equate an ordinary life with a failed one.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Reality Quotes , Odds Quotes

How do the stems connect to the roots?' 'Where is the mist coming from?' 'Why does one tree seem darker than another?' These questions are implicitly asked and answered in the process of sketching.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Roots Quotes , Tree Quotes