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 ideas nervous
There is a devilishly direct relationship between the significance of an idea and how nervous we become at the prospect of having to think about it.
home sky weather
We are sad at home and blame the weather and the ugliness of the buildings, but on the tropical island we learn that the state of the skies and the appearance of our dwellings can never on their own underwrite our joy nor condemn us to misery.
dream believe destiny
The longing for a destiny is no nowhere stronger than in our romantic life. All too often forced to share our bed with those who cannot fathom our soul, can we not be forgiven if we believe ourselves fated to stumble one day upon the man or woman of our dreams.
love may ends
...if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally bloody.
art feelings might
Art cannot single-handedly create enthusiasm... it merely contributes to enthusiasm and guides us to be more conscious of feelings that we might previously have experienced only tentatively or hurriedly.
war land two
The Arab-Israeli conflict is also in many ways a conflict about status: it's a war between two peoples who feel deeply humiliated by the other, who want the other to respect them. Battles over status can be even more intractable than those over land or water or oil.
want married fascinating
What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.
children father grew
When I see someone like Richard Dawkins, I see my father. I grew up with that. I'm basically the child of Richard Dawkins.
ambition anxiety contemporary
Anxiety is the handmaiden of contemporary ambition.
art would-be world
A world where a majority had imbibed the lessons implicit within tragic art would be one in which the consequences of our failures would necessarily cease to weigh upon us so heavily.
kids thinking needs
We accept the need to train extensively to fly a plane; but think instinct should be enough for marrying and raising kids.
reality choices painting
Every realistic picture represents a choice as to which features of reality should be given prominence; no painting ever captures the whole...
life dust space
It is not just nature that defies us. Human life is as overwhelming... If we spend time in it [the vast spaces of nature], they may help us to accept more graciously the great, unfathomable events that molest our lives and will inevitably return us to dust.
anxiety shifting triggers
as the determinants of high status keep shifting, so, too, naturally, will the triggers of status anxiety be altered.