We study biology, physics, movements of glaciers… Where are the classes on envy, feeling wronged, despair, bitterness.
ALAIN DE BOTTONOut of the millions of people we live among, most of whom we habitually ignore and are ignored by in turn, there are always a few that hold hostage our capacity for happiness, whom we could recognize by their smell alone and whom we would rather die than be without.
More Alain de Botton Quotes
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My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane.
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Although I don’t believe in God, Bach’s music shows me what a love of God must feel like.
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Rather than employing it as a supplement to active, conscious seeing, they used the medium as a substitute, paying less attention to the world than they had done previously, taking it on faith that photography automatically assured them possession of it.
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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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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.
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Most good thinking has its origin in fear.
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In a secularising world, art has replaced religion as a touchstone of our reverence and devotion.
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Out of the millions of people we live among, most of whom we habitually ignore and are ignored by in turn, there are always a few that hold hostage our capacity for happiness, whom we could recognize by their smell alone and whom we would rather die than be without.
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Every realistic picture represents a choice as to which features of reality should be given prominence; no painting ever captures the whole.
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The dream of the news is that it makes us care about other people and situations. But we cannot identify with people to whom we haven’t been introduced. Humans will only respond to art, to people who are skilled in making you care.
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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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As we write, so we build: to keep a record of what matters to us.
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As adults, we try to develop the character traits that would have rescued our parents.
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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 mind may be reluctant to think properly when thinking is all it is supposed to do; the task can be as paralysing as having to tell a joke or mimic an accent on demand.
ALAIN DE BOTTON