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.
ALAIN DE BOTTONThe blunt large questions become connected to smaller, apparently esoteric ones.
More Alain de Botton Quotes
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The finest proof of our loyalty toward one another was our monstrous disloyalties towards everyone else.
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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.
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Happiness is impossible for longer than 15 minutes. We are the descendants of creatures who, above all else, worried.
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Intimacy is the capacity to be rather weird with someone – and finding that that’s ok with them.
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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.
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The greatest works of art speak to us without knowing us.
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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.
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Serious journalists often imagine society is adrift because people don’t know certain things.
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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.
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Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books that were written because authors couldn’t find anyone to talk to.
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People who readily accept the need for a gym will resist that their personalities might need some work too.
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Every time we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually possess.
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Never too late to learn some embarrassingly basic, stupidly obvious things about oneself.
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Those who divorce aren’t necessarily the most unhappy, just those neatly able to believe their misery is caused by one other person.
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What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.
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