“Most of what makes a book 'good' is that we are reading it at the right moment for us.”
―
Alain de Botton
“Intimacy is the capacity to be rather weird with someone - and finding that that's ok with them.” ― Alain de Botton
“The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.” ― Alain de Botton
“One rarely falls in love without being as much attracted to what is interestingly wrong with someone as what is objectively healthy.” ― Alain de Botton
“Every fall into love involves the triumph of hope over self-knowledge. We fall in love hoping we won't find in another what we know is in ourselves, all the cowardice, weakness, laziness, dishonesty, compromise, and stupidity. We throw a cordon of love around the chosen one and decide that everything within it will somehow be free of our faults. We locate inside another a perfection that eludes us within ourselves, and through our union with the beloved hope to maintain (against the evidence of all self-knowledge) a precarious faith in our species.” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“Perhaps it is true that we do not really exist until there is someone there to see us existing, we cannot properly speak until there is someone who can understand what we are saying in essence, we are not wholly alive until we are loved.” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“One of the best protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on.” ― Alain de Botton
“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” ― Alain de Botton
“Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.” ― Alain de Botton
“To one's enemies: "I hate myself more than you ever could.” ― Alain de Botton
“We are all more intelligent than we are capable, and awareness of the insanity of love has never saved anyone from the disease.” ― Alain De Botton, On Love
“We fall in love because we long to escape from ourselves with someone as beautiful, intelligent, and witty as we are ugly, stupid, and dull. But what if such a perfect being should one day turn around and decide they will love us back? We can only be somewhat shocked-how can they be as wonderful as we had hoped when they have the bad taste to approve of someone like us?” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to acknowledge.” ― Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness
“Not being understood may be taken as a sign that there is much in one to understand.” ― Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety
“It was no longer her absence that wounded me, but my growing indifference to it. Forgetting, however calming, was also a reminder of infidelity to what I had at one time held so dear.” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“To be loved by someone is to realize how much they share the same needs that lie at the heart of our own attraction to them. Albert Camus suggested that we fall in love with people because, from the outside, they look so whole, physically whole and emotionally 'together' - when subjectively we feel dispersed and confused. We would not love if there were no lack within us, but we are offended by the discovery of a similar lack in the other. Expecting to find the answer, we find only the duplicate of our own problem.” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“That said, deciding to avoid other people does not necessarily equate with having no desire whatsoever for company; it may simply reflect a dissatisfaction with what—or who—is available. Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards. In Chamfort's words, 'It is sometimes said of a man who lives alone that he does not like society. This is like saying of a man that he does not like going for walks because he is not fond of walking at night in the forêt de Bondy.” ― Alain De Botton, Status Anxiety
“The largest part of what we call 'personality' is determined by how we've opted to defend ourselves against anxiety and sadness".” ― Alain de Botton
“People only get really interesting when they start to rattle the bars of their cages.” ― Alain de Botton
“Intimacy is the capacity to be rather weird with someone - and finding that that's ok with them.” ― Alain de Botton
“The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.” ― Alain de Botton
“One rarely falls in love without being as much attracted to what is interestingly wrong with someone as what is objectively healthy.” ― Alain de Botton
“Every fall into love involves the triumph of hope over self-knowledge. We fall in love hoping we won't find in another what we know is in ourselves, all the cowardice, weakness, laziness, dishonesty, compromise, and stupidity. We throw a cordon of love around the chosen one and decide that everything within it will somehow be free of our faults. We locate inside another a perfection that eludes us within ourselves, and through our union with the beloved hope to maintain (against the evidence of all self-knowledge) a precarious faith in our species.” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“Perhaps it is true that we do not really exist until there is someone there to see us existing, we cannot properly speak until there is someone who can understand what we are saying in essence, we are not wholly alive until we are loved.” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“One of the best protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on.” ― Alain de Botton
“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” ― Alain de Botton
“Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.” ― Alain de Botton
“To one's enemies: "I hate myself more than you ever could.” ― Alain de Botton
“We are all more intelligent than we are capable, and awareness of the insanity of love has never saved anyone from the disease.” ― Alain De Botton, On Love
“We fall in love because we long to escape from ourselves with someone as beautiful, intelligent, and witty as we are ugly, stupid, and dull. But what if such a perfect being should one day turn around and decide they will love us back? We can only be somewhat shocked-how can they be as wonderful as we had hoped when they have the bad taste to approve of someone like us?” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to acknowledge.” ― Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness
“Not being understood may be taken as a sign that there is much in one to understand.” ― Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety
“It was no longer her absence that wounded me, but my growing indifference to it. Forgetting, however calming, was also a reminder of infidelity to what I had at one time held so dear.” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“To be loved by someone is to realize how much they share the same needs that lie at the heart of our own attraction to them. Albert Camus suggested that we fall in love with people because, from the outside, they look so whole, physically whole and emotionally 'together' - when subjectively we feel dispersed and confused. We would not love if there were no lack within us, but we are offended by the discovery of a similar lack in the other. Expecting to find the answer, we find only the duplicate of our own problem.” ― Alain de Botton, On Love
“That said, deciding to avoid other people does not necessarily equate with having no desire whatsoever for company; it may simply reflect a dissatisfaction with what—or who—is available. Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards. In Chamfort's words, 'It is sometimes said of a man who lives alone that he does not like society. This is like saying of a man that he does not like going for walks because he is not fond of walking at night in the forêt de Bondy.” ― Alain De Botton, Status Anxiety
“The largest part of what we call 'personality' is determined by how we've opted to defend ourselves against anxiety and sadness".” ― Alain de Botton
“People only get really interesting when they start to rattle the bars of their cages.” ― Alain de Botton
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