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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.

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
Direct
Relationship
Idea
Become
Ideas
Think
Prospect
Thinking
Significance
Nervous

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In the gap between who we wish one day to be and who we are at present, must come pain, anxiety, envy and humiliation.
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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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The fear of saying something stupid (which stupid people never have) has censored far more good ideas than bad ones.
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What should worry us is not the number of people that oppose us, but how good their reasons are for doing so.
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The greatest works of art speak to us without knowing us.
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If one felt successful, there'd be so little incentive to be successful.
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Despite the best efforts of critics and the hopes of authors, our tastes in books are probably as inherent & unbudgeable as those in food.
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I am in general a very pessimistic person with an optimistic, day to day take on things. The bare facts of life are utterly terrifying. And yet, one can laugh. Indeed, one has to laugh precisely because of the darkness: the nervous laughter of the trenches.
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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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What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically to possess, the objects and places that touch us through their beauty.
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We wanted to test each other's capacity for survival: only if we had tried in vain to destroy one another would we know we were safe.
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It is striking how much more seriously we are likely to be taken after we have been dead a few centuries.
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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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Envy: a confused, tangled guide to one's own ambitions.
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What am I supposed to do here? What am I supposed to think?
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The desire for high status is never stronger than in situations where ordinary life fails to answer a median need for dignity and comfort.
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As victims of hurt, we frequently don't bring up what ails us, because so many wounds look absurd in the light of day.
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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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My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane.
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Every time we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually possess.
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