Quotes from Alain de Botton

I'm fascinated by Comte's clear-eyed analysis of what was wrong with modern society, which is that you've got industrial capitalism on one side and romantic love on the other. Those, along with non-instrumental art, are supposed to get you through the day?

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.

Paying tax should be framed as a glorious civic duty worthy of gratitude - not a punishment for making money.

Although I don't believe in God, Bach's music shows me what a love of God must feel like.

The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.

Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval.

Politics is so difficult, it's generally only people who aren't quite up to the task who feel convinced they are.

It is no coincidence that the Western attraction to sublime landscapes developed at precisely the moment when traditional beliefs in God began to wane.

The universe is large and we are tiny, without the need for further religious superstructure. One can have so-called spiritual moments without belief in the spirit.

Religions are so subtle, so complicated, so intelligent in many ways that they're not fit to be abandoned to the religious alone; they're for all of us.

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.

The secular world is full of holes. We have secularized badly.

The fear of saying something stupid (which stupid people never have) has censored far more good ideas than bad ones.

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.

Most good thinking has its origin in fear.

Choosing a spouse and a choosing career: the two great decisions for which society refuses to set up institutional guidance.

The materialistic view of happiness of our age starkly revealed in our understanding of the word "luxury.

Happiness is impossible for longer than 15 minutes. We are the descendants of creatures who, above all else, worried.

Mental health: having enough safe places in your mind for your thoughts to settle.

Don't despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don't - surrender to events with hope.

The difference between hope and despair is a different way of telling stories from the same facts.

I waste most of the day, then finally start to write around 3 P.M., totally disgusted with myself for my wasteful nature.

I keep a picture of my beloved children close by. Also, water and plenty of pads and pens.

Artworks are especially good at helping our psyches in a variety of ways: they rebalance our moods, lend us hope, usher in calm, stretch our sympathies, reignite our senses, and reawaken appreciation.