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.
ALAIN DE BOTTONNewspapers 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.
More Alain de Botton Quotes
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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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There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.
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Envy: a confused, tangled guide to one’s own ambitions.
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The largest part of what we call ‘personality’ is determined by how we’ve opted to defend ourselves against anxiety and sadness”.
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You normally have to be bashed about a bit by life to see the point of daffodils, sunsets and uneventful nice days.
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Most of us still caged within careers chosen for us by our not entirely worldly 18-22 year old selves.
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The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.
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Don’t despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don’t – surrender to events with hope.
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There are selections so acute that they come to define a place, with the result that we can no longer travel through that landscape without being reminded of what a great artist noticed there.
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One of our major flaws, and causes of unhappiness, is that we find it hard to take note of appreciate and be grateful for what is always around us. We suffer because we lose sight of the value of what is before us and yearn, often unfairly, for the imagined attraction elsewhere.
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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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There’s a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.
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True respectability stems not from the will of the majority but from proper reasoning.
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The inability to live in the present lies in the fear of leaving the sheltered position of anticipation or memory, and so of admitting that this is the only life that one is ever likely (heavenly intervention aside) to live.
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Good sex isn’t just fun, it keeps us sane and happy. Having sex with someone makes us feel wanted, alive and potent.
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