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Most of us still caged within careers chosen for us by our not entirely worldly 18-22 year old selves.

Alain de Botton

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Alain de Botton
Age: 55
Born: 1969
Born: December 20
Journalist
Philosopher
Publisher
Writer
City of Zurich
Alain De Botton
Chosen
Careers
Year
Within
Stills
Caged
Still
Selves
Self
Worldly
Years
Entirely

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Choosing a spouse and a choosing career: the two great decisions for which society refuses to set up institutional guidance.
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Once I began to consider everything as being of potential interest, objects released latent layers of value.
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Although I don't believe in God, Bach's music shows me what a love of God must feel like.
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Happiness is impossible for longer than 15 minutes. We are the descendants of creatures who, above all else, worried.
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The mind does most of its best thinking when we aren't there. The answers are there in the morning.
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We should keep a careful diary of our moments of envy: they are our covert guides to what we should try to do next.
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Being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say...but writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that the impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence.
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We may not agree with what religions are trying to teach us, but we can admire the institutional way in which they're doing it.
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A 'good job' can be both practically attractive while still not good enough to devote your entire life to.
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Curiosity might be pictured as being made up of chains of small questions extending outwards, sometimes over huge distances, from a central hub composed of a few blunt, large questions.
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As we write, so we build: to keep a record of what matters to us.
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For all his understanding of worldly concerns, when it came to fathoming the deeper meaning of his own furious activity, Sir Bob displayed the sort of laziness for which he himself had no patience in others. He appeared to have only a passing interest in the overall purpose of his financial accumulation.
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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.
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The degree of sympathy we feel regarding another's fiasco is directly proportional to how easy or difficult it is for us to imagine ourselves, under like circumstances, making a similar mistake.
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We will cease to be angry once we cease to be so hopeful.
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I know a lot about writing, but I don't know much about how other industries work. I've tried to use my naivety to my advantage.
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We need objects to remind us of the commitments we've made. That carpet from Morocco reminds us of the impulsive, freedom-loving side of ourselves we're in danger of losing touch with. Beautiful furniture gives us something to live up to. All designed objects are propaganda for a way of life.
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Architects themselves tend to shy away from the word, preferring instead to talk about the manipulation of space.
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Good sex isn't just fun, it keeps us sane and happy. Having sex with someone makes us feel wanted, alive and potent.
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Cynics are - beneath it all - only idealists with awkwardly high standards.
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