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So many complaints boil down to the belly ache of the fragile, mortal, ignored ego in a vast and indifferent universe.

Alain de Botton

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Alain de Botton
Age: 54
Born: 1969
Born: December 20
Journalist
Philosopher
Publisher
Writer
City of Zurich
Alain De Botton
Many
Mortal
Ignored
Indifferent
Fragile
Mortals
Boil
Ego
Ache
Vast
Complaints
Universe
Belly

More quotes by Alain de Botton

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The company of certain people may excite our generosity and sensitivity, while that of others awakens our competitiveness and envy.
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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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Out of the millions of people we live among, most of whom we habitually ignore and are ignored by in turn, there are always a few that hold hostage our capacity for happiness, whom we could recognize by their smell alone and whom we would rather die than be without.
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It's very hard to respect people on holiday - everybody looks so silly at the beach, it makes you hate humanity - but when you see people at their work they elicit respect, whether it's a mechanic, a stonemason or an accountant.
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I feel that the great challenge of our time is the communication of ideas.
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Not being understood may be taken as a sign that there is much in one to understand.
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On paper, being good sounds great but a lot depends on the atmosphere of the workplace or community we live in. We tend to become good or bad depending on the cues sent out within a particular space.
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The genius of religions is that they structure the inner life.
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We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them.
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Forgiveness requires a sense that bad behaviour is a sign of suffering rather than malice.
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Don't despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don't - surrender to events with hope.
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Many moments in religion seem attractive to me even though I can't believe in any of it.
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These inventors were elevating the formulation of entrepreneurial ideas to the status of a visionary activity. Though forced to justify their efforts in the pragmatic language of venture capital, they were at heart utopian thinkers intent on transforming the world.
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Reputation matters so much only because people so seldom think for themselves.
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One of our major flaws, and causes of unhappiness, is that we find it hard to take note of appreciate and be grateful for what is always around us. We suffer because we lose sight of the value of what is before us and yearn, often unfairly, for the imagined attraction elsewhere.
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The more dignity is widely and freely available in a society, the less people want to be famous.
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Envy: a confused, tangled guide to one's own ambitions.
Alain de Botton
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The challenge for a human now is to be more interesting to another than his or her smartphone.
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Travel agents would be wiser to ask us what we hope to change about our lives rather than simply where we wish to go.
Alain de Botton
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Though debts are condemned in the financial world, the world of friendship and love may perversely depend on well-managed debts.
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