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.
ALAIN DE BOTTONGood books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own – but that we could never have described on our own.
More Alain de Botton Quotes
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True respectability stems not from the will of the majority but from proper reasoning.
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We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them.
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As victims of hurt, we frequently don’t bring up what ails us, because so many wounds look absurd in the light of day.
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The only people we can think of as normal are those we don’t yet know very well.
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As adults, we try to develop the character traits that would have rescued our parents.
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Bitterness: anger that forgot where it came from.
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William James once made an acute point about the relationship between happiness and expectation. He argued that satisfaction with ourselves does not require us to succeed in every endeavour.
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The happiness that may emerge from taking a second look is central to Proust’s therapeutic conception. It reveals the extent to which our dissatisfactions may be the result of failing to look properly at our lives rather than the result of anything inherently deficient about them.
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The good parent: someone who doesn’t mind, for a time, being hated by their children.
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We read the weird tales in newspapers to crowd out the even weirder stuff inside us.
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What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.
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Most of our childhood is stored not in photos, but in certain biscuits, lights of day, smells, textures of carpet.
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We each appear to hold within ourselves a range of divergent views as to our native qualities.. And amid such uncertainty, we typically turn to the wider world to settle the question of our significance.. we seem beholden to affections of others to endure ourselves.
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The company of certain people may excite our generosity and sensitivity, while that of others awakens our competitiveness and envy.
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When you look at the Moon, you think, ‘I’m really small. What are my problems?’ It sets things into perspective. We should all look at the Moon a bit more often.
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