We are humiliated by what is powerful and mean, but awed by what is powerful and noble.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Art was the very antithesis of crass moralism.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
We will cease to be so angry once we cease to be so hopeful
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Most victories are, in the best way, acts of revenge.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Cynics are - beneath it all - only idealists with awkwardly high standards.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Judged against eternity, how little of what agitates us makes any difference.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Just be yourself' is about the worst advice you can give some people.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
One cannot read a novel without ascribing to the heroine the traits of the one we love.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
A good half of the art of living is resilience.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Every fall into love is the triumph of hope over self-knowledge
Quoted by Alain De Botton
The longing for a destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
The blunt large questions become connected to smaller, apparently esoteric ones.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Only as we mature does affection begin to depend on achievement.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Deprivation quickly drives us into a process of appreciation.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
The most courageous act in politics is to try to understand your opponent.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Anxiety is the handmaiden of contemporary ambition.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
We read the weird tales in newspapers to crowd out the even weirder stuff inside us.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
Being snappy is a symptom of an argument we forgot to have some way back.
Quoted by Alain De Botton
One of the best protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on.
Quoted by Alain De Botton