Everyone wants a better life: very few of us want to be better people.
ALAIN DE BOTTON
ALAIN DE BOTTON
Alain de Botton on everyone
Alain de Botton234 quotes“Everyone wants a better life: very few of us want to be better people.”
More from Alain de Botton
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 BottonAlain de Botton Architects themselves tend to shy away from the word, preferring instead to talk about the manipulation of space.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton The longing for destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton Memory is… similar to anticipation: an instrument of simplification and selection.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton There is real danger of a disconnect between what’s on your business card and who you are deep inside, and it’s not a disconnect that the world is ready to be patient with.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton Maturity: the confidence to have no opinions on many things.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton True love is a lack of desire to check one’s smartphone in another’s presence.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton Cynics are – beneath it all – only idealists with awkwardly high standards.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton It seems that most of us could benefit from a brush with a near-fatal disaster to help us recognise the important things that we are too defeated or embittered to recognise from day to day.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton …if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally bloody.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton The materialistic view of happiness of our age starkly revealed in our understanding of the word “luxury.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton Our greatest furies spring from events which violate our sense of the ground of our existence.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton It was no longer her absence that wounded me, but my growing indifference to it. Forgetting, however calming, was also a reminder of infidelity to what I had at one time held so dear.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton 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.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton The fear of saying something stupid (which stupid people never have) has censored far more good ideas than bad ones.
Alain de BottonAlain de Botton
Original quotes
From our community writers
Even with broken wings, she dares to fly. And even with a broken heart, she dares to love.
Divya khandalDivya khandal And I refuse to apologize until the very end for the way that I feel – my feelings are valid too.
Carmen AmadosCarmen Amados Contemplate your own mortality daily, then see how much we must change.
Chris AllchinChris Allchin Poetry is the voice of the soul and the inspiration of the heart.
Teresa PeresTeresa Peres We parted sadly, like children in the street on a pleasant june afternoon.
Iestyn TudorIestyn Tudor And what shall I call you? Yours. In this life, the ones before, and all others thereafter.
Alexandra MichelleAlexandra Michelle If I could go back to a time I’d be with you. And I’d thank you again for almost being the healing to my heart.
Aimee C. HoveyAimee C. Hovey I was a living breathing nightmare and he was my favorite dream catcher.
Juwairiyyah OlgarJuwairiyyah Olgar
Meet the writers
More on everyone
I tried to push him away with my head. I apologise to everyone. I should not have got involved in it.
Alan PardewAlan Pardew I’ve always felt like there was a lot of hype around me even when there wasn’t. I felt like everyone was talking about me even when no one was talking about me.
Conor McGregorConor McGregor My dream is to be World Lightweight Champion in the UFC. Have more money than I know what to do with. And have a great life for my kids, grandkids, and everyone in my family.
Conor McGregorConor McGregor I wish everyone well, but you need to focus on yourself. You need to stop putting your hand out. Everyone wants hand outs. Everyone wants things for free.
Conor McGregorConor McGregor Well, if you ask any filmmaker how they got into it, everyone came a different route.
Alan ParkerAlan Parker The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present.
Alan LightmanAlan Lightman The quest for heroic adventure then is a quest for the gospel, although it might not be seen that way by everyone.
Alan HirschAlan Hirsch I promise to look after everyone in the community, not just those who come to church, not just white people, not just the Christians.
Alan GreenAlan Green