Alain de Botton Quotes - Page 15

Quotes about:

• It seemed an advantage to be traveling alone. Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others...Being closely observed by a companion can also inhibit our observation of others; then, too, we may become caught up in adjusting ourselves to the companion's questions and remarks, or feel the need to make ourselves seem more normal than is good for our curiosity.

  Alain de Botton

  Company We Keep, Expectations, Curiosity

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Alain de Botton

  Book, Giving, Feelings

  11 Copy quote

• Status Anxiety: A worry, so pernicious as to be capable of ruining extended stretches of our lives, that we are in danger of failing to conform to the ideals of success laid down by our society and that we may as a result be stripped of dignity and respect; a worry that we are currently occupying too modest a rung or are about to fall to a lower one.

  Alain de Botton

  Happiness, Success, Fall

  5 Copy quote

• The true nature of bureaucracy may be nowhere more obvious to the observer than in a developing country, for only there will it still be made manifest by the full complement of documents, files, veneered desks and cabinets - which convey the strict and inverse relationship between productivity and paperwork.

  Alain de Botton

  Country, May, Developing Countries

  Alain de Botton (2009). “The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work”, p.40, Penguin UK

  13 Copy quote

• Despite the best efforts of critics and the hopes of authors, our tastes in books are probably as inherent & unbudgeable as those in food.

  Alain de Botton

  Book, Best Effort, Taste

  5 Copy quote

• 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.

  Alain de Botton

  Lonely, Book, Should

  Alain de Botton (2003). “The Art of Travel”, p.28, Penguin UK

  5 Copy quote

• Blind impatience is equally evident in the fruit section. Our ancestors might have delighted in the occasional handful of berries found on the underside of a bush in late summer, viewing it as a sign of the unexpected munificence of a divine creator, but we became modern when we gave up on awaiting sporadic gifts from above and sought to render any pleasing sensation immediately and repeatedly available.

  Alain de Botton

  Summer, Berries, Might

  Alain de Botton (2009). “The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work”, p.27, Penguin UK

  5 Copy quote

• Responsible for wrapping the iron fist of authority in its velvet glove is Jane Axtell, head of the accountancy firm's Human Resources department.

  Alain de Botton

  Iron, Velvet, Gloves

  "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work". Book by Alain de Botton, 2008.

  4 Copy quote

• One wants never to give up this crystalline perspective. One wants to keep counterpositioning home with what one knows of alternative realities, as they exist in Tunis or Hyderabad. One wants never to forget that nothing here is normal, that the streets are different in Wisebaden, and Louyang, that this is just one of many possible worlds.

  Alain de Botton

  Giving Up, Home, Reality

  5 Copy quote

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

  Alain de Botton

  Love, May, Ends

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Alain de Botton

  Home, Dwelling, Islands

  "On anticipation". www.theguardian.com. May 21, 2002.

  5 Copy quote

• Year-end financial statements express a truth about office life which is no less irrefutable yet also, in the end, no less irrelevant or irritating than an evolutionary biologist's proud reminder that the purpose of existence lies in the propagation of our genes.

  Alain de Botton

  Lying, Years, Year End

  "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work". Book by Alain de Botton, 2009.

  5 Copy quote

• Unrequited love may be painful, but it is safely painful, because it does not involve inflicting damage on anyone but oneself, a private pain that is as bittersweet as it is self-induced. But as soon as love is reciprocated, one must be prepared to give up the passivity of simply being hurt and take on the responsibility of perpetrating hurt oneself.

  Alain de Botton

  Hurt, Giving Up, Pain

  Alain de Botton (2006). “On Love: A Novel”, p.45, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  6 Copy quote

• Pick up any newspaper or magazine, open the TV, and you'll be bombarded with suggestions of how to have a successful life. Some of these suggestions are deeply unhelpful to our own projects and priorities - and we should take care.

  Alain de Botton

  Successful, Bombarded By, Priorities

  8 Copy quote

• On paper, being good sounds great but a lot depends on the atmosphere of the workplace or community we live in. We tend to become good or bad depending on the cues sent out within a particular space.

  Alain de Botton

  Space, Community, Atmosphere

  5 Copy quote

• I went to church and couldn't swallow it. The music was nice but I don't belong there.

  Alain de Botton

  Nice, Church

  4 Copy quote

• A simple problem of arithmetic: there are far more ambitions than there are grand destinies available.

  Alain de Botton

  Ambition, Simple, Destiny

  6 Copy quote

• I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay rather than the novel.

  Alain de Botton

  Writing, Fiction, Uncomfortable

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  8 Copy quote

• The longing for a destiny is no nowhere stronger than in our romantic life. All too often forced to share our bed with those who cannot fathom our soul, can we not be forgiven if we believe ourselves fated to stumble one day upon the man or woman of our dreams.

  Alain de Botton

  Dream, Believe, Destiny

  Alain De Botton (1993). “On Love”, Grove/Atlantic

  8 Copy quote

• Let's say you went to Harvard or Oxford or Cambridge, and you said, 'I've come here because I'm in search of morality, guidance and consolation; I want to know how to live,' - they would show you the way to the insane asylum.

  Alain de Botton

  Motivation, Inspiration, Oxford

  4 Copy quote

• I know a lot about writing, but I don't know much about how other industries work. I've tried to use my naivety to my advantage.

  Alain de Botton

  Writing, Use, Naivety

  5 Copy quote

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

  Alain de Botton

  Matter, Moments, Significant

  5 Copy quote

Page 15 of 15

First

← Prev

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin