“I thought about societies where exceptional fortunes are built up in industries with very little connection to out sincere and significant needs, industries where it is difficult to escape from the disparity between a seriousness of means and a triviality of ends.” NeedsMeanLittlesEndsDifficultIndustryBuiltConnectionsFortuneSignificantSincereExceptionalSeriousnessDisparityTriviality Book:The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work Source: The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
“Year-end financial statements express a truth about office life which is no less irrefutable yet also, in the end, no less irrelevant or irritating than an evolutionary biologist's proud reminder that the purpose of existence lies in the propagation of our genes.” YearsEndsLyingPurposeExistenceProudOfficeFinancialStatementsGenesIrrelevantRemindersIrritatingBiologistPropagationYear EndFinancial Statements Author:Alain de Botton
“What I want to argue for is not that we should give up on our ideas of success, but that we should make sure that they are our own. We should focus in on our ideas and make sure that we own them, that we're truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it's bad enough not getting what you want, but it's even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of the journey that it isn't, in fact, what you wanted all along.” WantGivingShouldIdeasEndsEnoughFactsWantedFocusJourneyGiving UpAmbitionWhat You WantArguingAuthorshipGetting What You Want Author:Alain de Botton
“In the works of Lucretius, we find two reasons why we shouldn't worry about death. If you have had a successful life, Lucretius tell us, there's no reason to mind its end. And, if you haven't had a good time, "Why do you seek to add more years, which would also pass but ill?"” IfsYearsMindTwoEndsReasonWorrySuccessfulHavensAddIllReason WhyGood TimesNo ReasonSuccessful LifeHad A Good Time Author:Alain de Botton
“After 40 (old age for most of man's history), one should strive to be more or less packed and ready to go were the end call to come.” MenShouldEndsAgeReadyStriveOld Age Author:Alain de Botton
“Most anger stems from feelings of weakness, sadness and fear: hard to remember when one is at the receiving end of its defiant roar.” EndsHardFeelingsRememberSadnessWeaknessReceivingStemRemember When Author:Alain de Botton
“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.” PeopleThinkingWayWantEndsFeelingsPowerfulEmotionalMarriedNegativeUncertainty Author:Alain de Botton
“That said, deciding to avoid other people does not necessarily equate with having no desire whatsoever for company; it may simply reflect a dissatisfaction with what—or who—is available. Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards. In Chamfort's words, 'It is sometimes said of a man who lives alone that he does not like society. This is like saying of a man that he does not like going for walks because he is not fond of walking at night in the forêt de Bondy.” PeopleMenMayDoeSaidEndsSometimesDesireNightWalksCompanyWalkingStandardsAvailableDissatisfactionIdealistHigh Standards Author:Alain de Botton
“Bad architecture is in the end as much a failure of psychology as of design. It is an example expressed through materials of the same tendencies which in other domains will lead us to marry the wrong people, choose inappropriate jobs and book unsuccessful holidays: the tendency not to understand who we are and what will satisfy us.” PeopleBookEndsJobsPsychologyExampleDesignMaterialsArchitectureTendenciesWho We AreHolidayDomainInappropriateUnsuccessful Author:Alain de Botton
“According to one influential wing of modern secular society there are few more disreputable fates than to end up being 'like everyone else' for 'everyone else' is a category that comprises the mediocre and the conformist, the boring and the suburban. The goal of all right-thinking people should be to mark themselves off from the crowd and 'stand out' in whatever way their talents allow.” PeopleThinkingWayShouldEndsGoalFateModernTalentMarkWingsCrowdsBoringCategoriesSecularMediocreStanding OutInfluentialConformistSecular Society Author:Alain de Botton
“If cynicism and love lie at opposite ends of a spectrum, do we not sometimes fall in love in order to escape the debilitating cynicism to which we are prone? Is there not in every coup de foudre a certain willful exaggeration of the qualities of the beloved, an exaggeration which distracts us from our habitual pessimism and focuses our energies on someone in whom we can believe in a way we have never believed in ourselves?” IfsWayBelieveEndsSometimesLyingCertainOrderFallEnergyQualityOppositesAnd LoveFalling In LoveBelovedPessimismCynicismSpectrumExaggerationHabitualCoupsLove Lies Book:On Love: A Novel Source: On Love: A Novel
“Objectively good spaces to work rarely end up being so; in their faultlessness, quiet and well-equipped studios have a habit of rendering the fear of failure overwhelming. Original thoughts are like shy animals. We sometimes have to look the other way - towards a busy street or terminal - before they run out of their burrows.” WayWellsLooksEndsSometimesRunningSpaceAnimalStreetsHabitQuietOriginalsBusyStudiosShyOverwhelmingFear Of FailureRenderingTerminalOriginal Thought Author:Alain de Botton
“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.” ThinkingEndsBehindsAnxietyWeaknessOppositesThe End Of The DayMaskSensitivitySweetnessMachismoWeakness And Fear Author:Alain de Botton
“...if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally bloody.” IfsLoveMayEndsBloodyRosyAmorous Author:Alain de Botton
