My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane.
ALAIN DE BOTTONThe fear of saying something stupid (which stupid people never have) has censored far more good ideas than bad ones.
More Alain de Botton Quotes
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After 40 (old age for most of man’s history), one should strive to be more or less packed and ready to go were the end call to come.
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Though it may feel otherwise, enjoying life is no more dangerous than apprehending it with continuous anxiety and gloom.
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Unhappiness can stem from having only one perspective to play with.
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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.
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Newspapers are being read all around. The point is not, of course, to glean new information, but rather to coax the mind out of its sleep-induced introspective temper.
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We are not always humiliated by failing; we are humiliated only if we first invest our pride and sense of worth in a given achievement and then do not reach it.
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Work is most fulfilling when you’re at the comfortable, exciting edge of not quite knowing what you are doing.
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There is a devilishly direct relationship between the significance of an idea and how nervous we become at the prospect of having to think about it.
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We 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.
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There is a longing for a return to a time without the need for choices, free of the regret at the inevitable loss that all choice (however wonderful) has entailed.
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An argument in a couple: 2 people attempting to introduce each other to important truths – by panicked shouting.
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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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If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest – in all its ardour and paradoxes – than our travels.
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The longing for destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life.
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The challenge of modern relationships: how to prove more interesting than the other’s smartphone.
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