Curiosity takes ignorance seriously – and is confident enough to admit when it’s in the dark. It is aware of not knowing. And then it sets out to do something about it.
ALAIN DE BOTTONThe more closely we analyze what we consider ‘sexy,’ the more clearly we will understand that eroticism is the feeling of excitement we experience at finding another human being who shares our values and our sense of the meaning of existence.
More Alain de Botton Quotes
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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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One rarely falls in love without being as much attracted to what is interestingly wrong with someone as what is objectively healthy.
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Architects themselves tend to shy away from the word, preferring instead to talk about the manipulation of space.
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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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Never too late to learn some embarrassingly basic, stupidly obvious things about oneself.
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The finest proof of our loyalty toward one another was our monstrous disloyalties towards everyone else.
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We need a refuge to shore up our states of mind, because so much of the world is opposed to our allegiances. We need our rooms to align us to desirable versions of ourselves and to keep alive the important, evanescent sides of us.
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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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Everyone wants a better life: very few of us want to be better people.
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It is not just nature that defies us. Human life is as overwhelming… If we spend time in it [the vast spaces of nature], they may help us to accept more graciously the great, unfathomable events that molest our lives and will inevitably return us to dust.
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A ‘good job’ can be both practically attractive while still not good enough to devote your entire life to.
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To one’s enemies: “I hate myself more than you ever could.
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He did not mean to depress us, rather to free us from expectations which inspire bitterness. It is consoling, when love has let us down, to hear that happiness was never part of the plan.
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Maturity: the confidence to have no opinions on many things.
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My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane.
ALAIN DE BOTTON