Quote

At the heart of every frustration lies a basic structure: the collision of a wish with an unyielding reality.

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
Basic
Structure
Lies
Lying
Wish
Reality
Unyielding
Heart
Collision
Every
Frustration

More quotes by Alain de Botton

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Newspapers are being read all around. The point is not, of course, to glean new information, but rather to coax the mind out of its sleep-induced introspective temper.
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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.
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We accept the need to train extensively to fly a plane but think instinct should be enough for marrying and raising kids.
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True respectability stems not from the will of the majority but from proper reasoning.
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It should not be Illiers-Combray that we visit: a genuine homage to Proust would be to look at our world through his eyes, not look at his world through our eyes.
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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 not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them.
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There is a longing for a return to a time without the need for choices, free of the regret at the inevitable loss that all choice (however wonderful) has entailed.
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Literature deserves its prestige for one reason above all others - because it's a tool to help us live and die with a little bit more wisdom, goodness, and sanity.
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Maturity: knowing where you're crazy, trying to warn others of the fact and striving to keep yourself under control.
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Instead of bringing back 1600 plants, we might return from our journeys with a collection of small unfêted but life-enhancing thoughts.
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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.
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as the determinants of high status keep shifting, so, too, naturally, will the triggers of status anxiety be altered.
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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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Curiosity takes ignorance seriously - and is confident enough to admit when it's in the dark. It is aware of not knowing. And then it sets out to do something about it.
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What kills us isn't one big thing, but thousands of tiny obligations we can't turn down for fear of disappointing others.
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People who readily accept the need for a gym will resist that their personalities might need some work too.
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Our bodies hold our minds hostage to their whims and rhythms.
Alain de Botton
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I am conscious of trying to stretch the boundaries of non-fiction writing. It's always surprised me how little attention many non-fiction writers pay to the formal aspects of their work.
Alain de Botton
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One of the better guarantors of ending up in a good relationship: an advanced capacity to be alone.
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