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 A notorious inability to express emotions makes human beings the only animals capable of suicide. Alain de Botton inability suicide animal 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. Alain de Botton objects levels In their different ways, art and philosophy help us, in Schopenhauer's words, to turn pain into knowledge. Alain de Botton pain philosophy art Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts new places. Introspective reflections which are liable to stall are helped along by the flow of the landscape. The mind may be reluctant to think properly when thinking is all it is supposed to do. Alain de Botton eye reflection moving I think people want to get married to end their emotional uncertainty. In a way, they want to end powerful feelings, or certainly the negative ones. Alain de Botton emotional powerful thinking The happiness that may emerge from taking a second look is central to Proust's therapeutic conception. It reveals the extent to which our dissatisfactions may be the result of failing to look properly at our lives rather than the result of anything inherently deficient about them. Alain de Botton proust may looks We should read other people's books in order to learn what we feel; it is our own thoughts we should be developing, even if it is another writer's thought that help us to do so. Alain de Botton order book people 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. Alain de Botton presenting argument believe It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened through immersive dousings in the darkness which religions have explored. This is a particular priority for secular Americans, perhaps the most anxious and disappointed people on earth, for their nation infuses them with the most extreme hopes about what they may be able to achieve in their working lives and relationships. Alain de Botton priorities atheist people 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. Alain de Botton depressing expectations mean The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to. Alain de Botton mindset journey travel Only by declaring a book completely finished can one start to see how much remains to be done on it. Alain de Botton remains done book Rage is caused by a conviction, almost comic in its optimistic origins (however tragic in its effects), that a given frustration has not been written into the contract of life. Alain de Botton optimistic frustration rage 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 Alain de Botton light mean believe When Proust urges us to evaluate the world properly, he repeatedly reminds us of the value of modest scenes. Alain de Botton proust scene world 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. Alain de Botton care tasks people The arrogance that says analysing the relationship between reasons and causes is more important than writing a philosophy of shyness or sadness or friendship drives me nuts. I can't accept that. Alain de Botton sadness writing philosophy All tours are filled with humiliation. My publisher once hired a private jet to fly me to a venue where 1,000 people were waiting. It almost bankrupted him. Alain de Botton humiliation waiting people Objectively good spaces to work rarely end up being so; in their faultlessness, quiet and well-equipped studios have a habit of rendering the fear of failure overwhelming. Original thoughts are like shy animals. We sometimes have to look the other way - towards a busy street or terminal - before they run out of their burrows. Alain de Botton space running animal Sublime places repeat in grand terms a lesson that ordinary life typically teaches viciously: that the universe is mightier than we are, that we are frail and temporary and have no alternative but to accept limitations on our will; that we must bow to necessities greater than ourselves. Alain de Botton bows sublime ordinary
