Every time we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually possess. Alain de Botton More Quotes by Alain de Botton More Quotes From Alain de Botton Only as we mature does affection begin to depend on achievement. Alain de Botton affection achievement doe Most of us stand poised at the edge of brilliance, haunted by the knowledge of our proximity, yet still demonstrably on the wrong side of the line, our dealings with reality undermined by a range of minor yet critical psychological flaws (a little too much optimism, an unprocessed rebelliousness, a fatal impatience or sentimentality). We are like an exquisite high-speed aircraft which for lack of a tiny part is left stranded beside the runway, rendered slower than a tractor or bicycle. Alain de Botton optimism lines reality Forcing people to eat together is an effective way to promote tolerance. Alain de Botton tolerance food people The telephone becomes an instrument of torture in the demonic hands of a beloved who doesn't call. Alain de Botton telephones beloved hands True respectability stems not from the will of the majority but from proper reasoning. Alain de Botton reasoning stem majority Differ though we might with Christianity's view of what precisely our souls need, it is hard to discredit the provocative underlying thesis, which seems no less relevant in the secular realm than in the religious one-that we have within us a precious, childlike, vulnerable core which we should nourish and nurture on its turbulent journey through life. Alain de Botton atheist journey religious The mind may be reluctant to think properly when thinking is all it is supposed to do; the task can be as paralysing as having to tell a joke or mimic an accent on demand. Alain de Botton tasks mind thinking Curiosity takes ignorance seriously - and is confident enough to admit when it's in the dark. It is aware of not knowing. And then it sets out to do something about it. Alain de Botton ignorance knowing dark What am I supposed to do here? What am I supposed to think? Alain de Botton thinking Arguments are like eels: however logical, they may slip from the minds weak grasp unless fixed there by imagery and style. Alain de Botton eels style mind The fear of saying something stupid (which stupid people never have) has censored far more good ideas than bad ones. Alain de Botton stupid people ideas In the gap between who we wish one day to be Alain de Botton envy anxiety pain The finest proof of our loyalty toward one another was our monstrous disloyalties towards everyone else. Alain de Botton finest proof loyalty We envy only those whom we feel ourselves to be like; we envy only members of our reference group. There are few successes more unendurable than those of our close friends. Alain de Botton close-friends envy groups William James once made an acute point about the relationship between happiness and expectation. He argued that satisfaction with ourselves does not require us to succeed in every endeavour. We are not always humiliated by failing; we are humiliated only if we first invest our pride and sense of worth in a given achievement and then do not reach it. Alain de Botton achievement pride expectations As victims of hurt, we frequently don't bring up what ails us, because so many wounds look absurd in the light of day. Alain de Botton light hurt looks Dreams reveal we never quite get 'over' anything: it's all still in there somewhere. Alain de Botton get-over stills dream What is a snob? A snob is anybody who takes a small part of you and uses that to come to a complete vision of who you are. That is snobbery. Alain de Botton snob vision use Perhaps the easiest people to fall in love with are those about whom we know nothing. Romances are never as pure as those we imagine during long train journeys, as we secretly contemplate a beautiful person who is gazing out of the window – a perfect love story interrupted only when the beloved looks back into the carriage and starts up a dull conversation about the excessive price of the on-board sandwiches with a neighbour or blows her nose aggressively into a handkerchief. Alain de Botton falling-in-love journey beautiful It wasn't only fanatics and drunkards who began conversations with strangers in public. Alain de Botton drunkards stranger conversation
