Alain de Botton
Alain de Botton
Alain de Botton, FRSLis a Swiss-born, British-based self-help philosopher and public speaker. His books and television programmes discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. At 23, he published Essays in Love, which went on to sell two million copies. Other bestsellers include How Proust Can Change Your Life, Status Anxietyand The Architecture of Happiness...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth20 December 1969
thinking people matter
Reputation matters so much only because people so seldom think for themselves.
art knowing speak
The greatest works of art speak to us without knowing us.
would-be world ugly
It would be foolish to describe the logistics hub as merely ugly, for it has the horrifying, soulless, immaculate beauty characteristic of many of the workplaces of the modern world.
book writing sick
It seems the only way to write a half decent book is to worry oneself sick on an hourly basis that one is producing a complete disaster.
art suffering important
One of the unexpectedly important things that art can do for us is to teach us how to suffer more successfully.
fighting order alcohol
Alcohol-inspired fights ... are a reminder of the price we pay for our daily submission at the altars of prudence and order.
impossible worried minutes
Happiness is impossible for longer than 15 minutes. We are the descendants of creatures who, above all else, worried.
understanding findings closest
It is by finding out what something is not that one comes closest to understanding what it is.
majority stem reasoning
True respectability stems not from the will of the majority but from proper reasoning.
valuable tedious ifs
Our sense of what is valuable will hence be radically distorted if we must perpetually condemn as tedious everything we lack, simply because we lack it.
love-and-friendship debt world
Though debts are condemned in the financial world, the world of friendship and love may perversely depend on well-managed debts.
lazy sloth quoting
There is always the option of being emotionally lazy, that is, of quoting.
difficulty oneself
The greatest difficulty of Travel is that one is forced to take oneself along.
matter moments significant
A great writer picks up on those things that matter. It’s almost like their radar is attuned to the most significant moments.