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
travel journey might
Instead of bringing back 1600 plants, we might return from our journeys with a collection of small unfêted but life-enhancing thoughts.
people looks attention
We may seek a fortune for no greater reason than to secure the respect and attention of people who would otherwise look straight through us.
sex suggestions modern
I'm also interested in the modern suggestion that you can have a combination of love and sex in a marriage - which no previous society has ever believed.
believe argument depends
I passionately believe that's it's not just what you say that counts, it's also how you say it - that the success of your argument critically depends on your manner of presenting it.
successful bombarded-by priorities
Pick up any newspaper or magazine, open the TV, and you'll be bombarded with suggestions of how to have a successful life. Some of these suggestions are deeply unhelpful to our own projects and priorities - and we should take care.
art philosophy hierarchy
Philosophy, art, politics, religion and bohemia have never sought to do away entirely with the status hierarchy; they have attemptee, rather, to institute new kinds of hierarchies based on sets of values unrecognised by, and critical of, those of the majority.. They have provided us with persuasive and consoling reminders that there is more than one way of succeeding in life.
philosophy book sound
It's clear to me that there is no good reason for many philosophy books to sound as complicated as they do.
beautiful religious thinking
We are certainly influenced by role models, and if we are surrounded by images of beautiful rich people, we will start to think that to be beautiful and rich is very important - just as in the Middle Ages, people were surrounded by images of religious piety.
writing fiction uncomfortable
I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay, rather than the novel.
desire stronger needs
The desire for high status is never stronger than in situations where "ordinary" life fails to answer a median need for dignity and comfort.
interesting hegel terrible
Kant and Hegel are interesting thinkers. But I am happy to insist that they are also terrible writers.
writing use naivety
I know a lot about writing, but I don't know much about how other industries work. I've tried to use my naivety to my advantage.
powerful emotional thinking
I think people want to get married to end their emotional uncertainty. In a way, they want to end powerful feelings, or certainly the negative ones.
annoyed anxiety political
Status anxiety definitely exists at a political level. Many Iraqis were annoyed with the US essentially for reasons of status: for not showing them respect, for humiliating them.