Alain de Botton Quotes, Genius Quotes, Structure Quotes

The genius of religions is that they structure the inner life.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Genius Quotes , Structure 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

What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically to possess, the objects and places that touch us through their beauty.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Levels Quotes

There is psychological pleasure in this takeoff, too, for the swiftness of the plane’s ascent is an exemplary symbol of transformation. The display of power can inspire us to imagine analogous, decisive shifts in our own lives, to imagine that we, too, might one day surge above much that now looms over us.” P. 38-39

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Inspire Quotes , One Day Quotes

Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books that were written because authors couldn't find anyone to talk to.

6 years ago

Message Copied

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

My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Writing Quotes

Every time we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually possess.

6 years ago

Message Copied

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

The problem is if you really believe in a society where those who merit to get to the top, get to the top, you’ll also, by implication … believe in a society where those who deserve to get to the bottom also get to the bottom and stay there.

6 years ago

Message Copied

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

Most of what makes a book 'good' is that we are reading it at the right moment for us.

6 years ago

Message Copied

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

[T]he unsympathetic assessments we make of others are usually the result of nothing more sinister than our habit of looking at them in the wrong way, through lenses clouded by distraction, exhaustion and fear, which blind us to the fact that they are really, despite a thousand differences, just altered versions of ourselves: fellow fragile, uncertain, flawed beings likewise craving love and in urgent need of forgiveness.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Assessment Quotes , Differences Quotes

Maturity: knowing where you're crazy, trying to warn others of the fact and striving to keep yourself under control.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Crazy Quotes , Maturity Quotes

The inability to live in the present lies in the fear of leaving the sheltered position of anticipation or memory, and so of admitting that this is the only life that one is ever likely (heavenly intervention aside) to live.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Memories Quotes , Lying Quotes

He was marked out by his relentless ability to find fault with others' mediocrity - suggesting that a certain type of intelligence may be at heart nothing more or less than a superior capacity for dissatisfaction.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Heart Quotes , Mediocrity Quotes

The best cure for one's bad tendencies is to see them in action in another person.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Action Quotes , Tendencies Quotes

One's doing well if age improves even slightly one's capacity to hold on to that vital truism: "This too shall pass.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Age Quotes , Aging Quotes

The challenge for a human now is to be more interesting to another than his or her smartphone.

6 years ago

Message Copied

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

Newspapers are being read all around. The point is not, of course, to glean new information, but rather to coax the mind out of its sleep-induced introspective temper.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Sleep Quotes , Mind Quotes

What kills us isn't one big thing, but thousands of tiny obligations we can't turn down for fear of disappointing others.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Tiny Quotes , Disappointing Quotes

What I want to argue for is not that we should give up on our ideas of success, but that we should make sure that they are our own. We should focus in on our ideas and make sure that we own them, that we're truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it's bad enough not getting what you want, but it's even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of the journey that it isn't, in fact, what you wanted all along.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Giving Up Quotes , Ambition Quotes

According to one influential wing of modern secular society there are few more disreputable fates than to end up being 'like everyone else' for 'everyone else' is a category that comprises the mediocre and the conformist, the boring and the suburban. The goal of all right-thinking people should be to mark themselves off from the crowd and 'stand out' in whatever way their talents allow.

6 years ago

Message Copied

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