English En
  • Deutsche De
  • English En
  • Français Fr
  • Русский Ru

We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our marketing and analytics partners who may combine it with other information you've provided to them or which they've separately collected from you. You also may to see our Privacy Policy. By clicking the OK button below, you accept our cookies.

Authors:

Alain de Botton Quotes

Our innate imbalances are further aggravated by practical demands. Our jobs make relentless calls on a narrow band of our faculties, reducing our chances of achieving rounded personalities and leaving us to suspect (often in the gathering darkness of a Sunday evening) that much of who we are, or could be, has gone unexplored. Society ends up containing a range of unbalanced groups, each hungering to sate its particular psychological deficiency, forming the backdrop against which our frequently heated conflicts about what is beautiful plays themselves out.

Alain de Botton

About author

Related Authors

Topics

Quotes currently Trending

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use. Mother Teresa
There's so much fear involved in trying to do something you don't know how to do that drugs and alcohol can become a big part of your life if you have an addictive personality or are very unsure, which most songwriters are. Barry Mann
I understand the harsh feelings and sentiments from my opponents and their supporters because I myself have been defeated twice in my political life in the past and I understand very well it is hard to accept your own failure. Chen Shui-bian
The great thing about our system of democracy is when they call you for jury duty, you have to come... It's an honor and a privilege. I was called and I've got to be here. Antonio Villaraigosa
Richard D. James quote: "The best musicians or sound-artists are people who never..."
The best musicians or sound-artists are people who never considered themselves to be artists or musicians. Richard D. James
I didn't know much about him, and I wasn't a big country music fan. I listened to the Beatles and David Bowie, so I didn't know a lot about him. Joaquin Phoenix
John Tesh quote: "If you want to get an education in how to get a story and how..."
If you want to get an education in how to get a story and how to survive, then get a street reporter job in New York City. John Tesh
We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth. Henry Beston
Showing up at school already able to read is like showing up at the undertaker's already embalmed: people start worrying about being put out of their jobs. Florence King
Thousands of cities in America are crying out for relief from the burden of illegal immigration. Small towns like mine can no longer wait for Washington. Lou Barletta
Anne Stevenson quote: "I like rhyme because it is memorable, I like form because..."
I like rhyme because it is memorable, I like form because having to work to a pattern gives me original ideas. Anne Stevenson
Martin Luther quote: "They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an..."
They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet. Martin Luther
I'm in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the One-Hit Wonder Wall. I'm still very troubled by the fact that I'm in the hall and my dad isn't. Debby Boone
Mourning Ruby is not a flat landscape: it is more like a box with pictures painted on every face. And each face is also a door which opens, I hope, to take the reader deep into the book. Helen Dunmore
Jim Morrison quote: "Some of the worst mistakes in my life were haircuts"
Some of the worst mistakes in my life were haircuts Jim Morrison