Alain de Botton Quotes, Art Quotes, Imagination Quotes

If we are inclined to forget how much there is in the world besides that which we anticipate, then works of art are perhaps a little to blame, for in them we find at work the same process of simplification or selection as in the imagination.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

Serious journalists often imagine society is adrift because people don't know certain things. Yet often, they know but just don't care. So the task of serious journalism isn't just to lay out truths. It is to make vital truths compelling to a big audience.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

It is striking how much more seriously we are likely to be taken after we have been dead a few centuries.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

When you look at the Moon, you think, ‘I’m really small. What are my problems?’ It sets things into perspective. We should all look at the Moon a bit more often.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

The greatest difficulty of Travel is that one is forced to take oneself along.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Difficulty Quotes

Unnatural to expect that learning to be happy should be any easier than, say, learning to play the violin or require any less practice.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Practice Quotes , Play Quotes

It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to acknowledge.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

We read the weird tales in newspapers to crowd out the even weirder stuff inside us.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Crowds Quotes , Stuff Quotes

Most victories are, in the best way, acts of revenge.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Revenge Quotes , Victory Quotes

There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

He did not mean to depress us, rather to free us from expectations which inspire bitterness. It is consoling, when love has let us down, to hear that happiness was never part of the plan.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

There is a devilishly direct relationship between the significance of an idea and how nervous we become at the prospect of having to think about it.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

A successful work will draw out the features capable of exciting a sense of beauty and interest in the spectator.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Successful Quotes , Exciting 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.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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

The more closely we analyze what we consider 'sexy,' the more clearly we will understand that eroticism is the feeling of excitement we experience at finding another human being who shares our values and our sense of the meaning of existence.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Sexy Quotes , Feelings Quotes

The attentions of others matter to us because we are afflicted by a congenital uncertainty as to our own value, as a result of which affliction we tend to allow others' appraisals to play a determining role in how we see ourselves. Our sense of identity is held captive by the judgements of those we live among.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Play Quotes , Judgement Quotes

A great writer picks up on those things that matter. It’s almost like their radar is attuned to the most significant moments.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Matter Quotes , Moments Quotes

Being funny should be an incidental byproduct of trying to get to something truthful, not a destination in itself.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Trying Quotes , Truthful Quotes

What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.

5 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alain de Botton Quotes , Want Quotes , Married Quotes

I passionately believe that's it's not just what you say that counts, it's also how you say it - that the success of your argument critically depends on your manner of presenting it.

5 years ago

Message Copied

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