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 opposites anxiety
Sweetness is the opposite of machismo, which is everywhere-and I really don't get on with machismo. I'm interested in sensitivity, and weakness, and fear, and anxiety, because I think that, at the end of the day, behind our masks, that's what we are.
beautiful witty falling-in-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?
sadness worry personality
The largest part of what we call 'personality' is determined by how we've opted to defend ourselves against anxiety and sadness".
blessed sadness perspective
Our sadness won’t be of the searing kind but more like a blend of joy and melancholy: joy at the perfection we see before us, melancholy at an awareness of how seldom we are sufficiently blessed to encounter anything of its kind. The flawless object throws into perspective the mediocrity that surrounds it. We are reminded of the way we would wish things always to be and of how incomplete our lives remain.
art resilience half
A good half of the art of living is resilience.
way looks realising
The only way to be happy is to realise how much depends on how you look at things
people important identity
People who hold important positions in society are commonly labelled "somebodies," and their inverse "nobodies"-both of which are, of course, nonsensical descriptors, for we are all, by necessity, individuals with distinct identities and comparable claims on existence. Such words are nevertheless an apt vehicle for conveying the disparate treatment accorded to different groups. Those without status are all but invisible: they are treated brusquely by others, their complexities trampled upon and their singularities ignored.
inspirational obvious-things too-late
Never too late to learn some embarrassingly basic, stupidly obvious things about oneself.
eels style mind
Arguments are like eels: however logical, they may slip from the minds weak grasp unless fixed there by imagery and style.
mind body whim
Our bodies hold our minds hostage to their whims and rhythms.
self years careers
Most of us still caged within careers chosen for us by our not entirely worldly 18-22 year old selves.
intelligent insanity disease
We are all more intelligent than we are capable, and awareness of the insanity of love has never saved anyone from the disease.
character parent trying
As adults, we try to develop the character traits that would have rescued our parents.
littles may rich
Every time we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually possess.