Serious journalists often imagine society is adrift because people don’t know certain things.
ALAIN DE BOTTONI am in general a very pessimistic person with an optimistic, day to day take on things. The bare facts of life are utterly terrifying. And yet, one can laugh. Indeed, one has to laugh precisely because of the darkness: the nervous laughter of the trenches.
More Alain de Botton Quotes
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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 keep a special place in our hearts for people who refuse to be impressed by us.
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For paranoia about ‘what other people think’ : remember that only some hate, a very few love – and almost all just don’t care.
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Only by declaring a book completely finished can one start to see how much remains to be done on it.
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The longing for destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic 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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The good parent: someone who doesn’t mind, for a time, being hated by their children.
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A notorious inability to express emotions makes human beings the only animals capable of suicide.
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Taking photographs can assuage the itch for possession sparked by the beauty of a place; our anxiety over losing a precious scene can decline with every click of the shutter.
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We will cease to be angry once we cease to be so hopeful.
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Most good thinking has its origin in fear.
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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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Our disrespect for thinking: someone sitting in a chair, gazing out of a window blankly, always described as ‘doing nothing’.
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As an atheist, I think there are lots of things religions get up to which are of value to non-believers – and one of those things is trying to be a bit better than we normally manage to be.
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What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.
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