There are selections so acute that they come to define a place, with the result that we can no longer travel through that landscape without being reminded of what a great artist noticed there. Alain de Botton More Quotes by Alain de Botton More Quotes From Alain de Botton We keep a special place in our hearts for people who refuse to be impressed by us. Alain de Botton special heart people Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason. Alain de Botton good-life optimism crazy We fall in love because we long to escape from ourselves with someone as beautiful, intelligent, and witty as we are ugly, stupid, and dull. But what if such a perfect being should one day turn around and decide they will love us back? We can only be somewhat shocked-how can they be as wonderful as we had hoped when they have the bad taste to approve of someone like us? Alain de Botton falling-in-love witty beautiful Most of us still caged within careers chosen for us by our not entirely worldly 18-22 year old selves. Alain de Botton careers self years We often lose our tempers not with those who are actually to blame; just with those who love us enough to forgive us our foul moods. Alain de Botton blame forgiving mood Forgiveness requires a sense that bad behaviour is a sign of suffering rather than malice. Alain de Botton malice behaviour suffering Socrates, on being insulted in the marketplace, asked by a passerby, "Don't you worry about being called names?" retorted, "Why? Do you think I should resent it if an ass had kicked me? Alain de Botton names worry thinking The only way to be happy is to realise how much depends on how you look at things Alain de Botton realising looks way Maturity: the confidence to have no opinions on many things. Alain de Botton maturity opinion inspiring People only get really interesting when they start to rattle the bars of their cages. Alain de Botton bars people interesting People who readily accept the need for a gym will resist that their personalities might need some work too. Alain de Botton personality people needs There may be significant things to learn about people by looking at what annoys them most. Alain de Botton significant-things may people The difference between hope and despair is a different way of telling stories from the same facts. Alain de Botton despair differences different Though it may feel otherwise, enjoying life is no more dangerous than apprehending it with continuous anxiety and gloom. Alain de Botton enjoy-life anxiety worry Must being in love always mean being in pain? Alain de Botton being-in-love pain mean Everyone returns us to a different sense of ourselves, for we become a little of who they think we are. Alain de Botton return different thinking Envy: a confused, tangled guide to one's own ambitions. Alain de Botton envy confused ambition A good half of the art of living is resilience. Alain de Botton resilience half art Work is most fulfilling when you're at the comfortable, exciting edge of not quite knowing what you are doing. Alain de Botton fulfilling knowing exciting Our sadness won’t be of the searing kind but more like a blend of joy and melancholy: joy at the perfection we see before us, melancholy at an awareness of how seldom we are sufficiently blessed to encounter anything of its kind. The flawless object throws into perspective the mediocrity that surrounds it. We are reminded of the way we would wish things always to be and of how incomplete our lives remain. Alain de Botton perspective sadness blessed
