It is perhaps when our lives are at their most problematic that we are likely to be most receptive to beautiful things.
ALAIN DE BOTTONWe need objects to remind us of the commitments we’ve made. That carpet from Morocco reminds us of the impulsive, freedom-loving side of ourselves we’re in danger of losing touch with. Beautiful furniture gives us something to live up to. All designed objects are propaganda for a way of life.
More Alain de Botton Quotes
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One kind of good book should leave you asking: how did the author know that about me?
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In the gap between who we wish one day to be and who we are at present, must come pain, anxiety, envy and humiliation.
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We keep a special place in our hearts for people who refuse to be impressed by us.
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…if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally bloody.
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To be shown love is to feel ourselves the object of concern: our presence is noted, our name is registered, our views are listened to, our failings are treated with indulgence and our needs are ministered to. And under such care, we flourish.
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It wasn’t only fanatics and drunkards who began conversations with strangers in public.
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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.
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Insomnia is a glamorous term for thoughts you forgot to have in the day.
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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.
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Forgiveness requires a sense that bad behaviour is a sign of suffering rather than malice.
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We are all more intelligent than we are capable, and awareness of the insanity of love has never saved anyone from the disease.
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Do you love me enough that I may be weak with you? Everyone loves strength, but do you love me for my weakness? That is the real test.
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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.
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Literature deeply stands opposed to the dominant value system-the one that rewards money and power. Writers are on the other side-they make us sympathetic to ideas and feelings that are of deep importance but can’t afford airtime in a commercialized, status-consciou s, and cynical world.
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In their different ways, art and philosophy help us, in Schopenhauer’s words, to turn pain into knowledge.
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