3
" I strip myself emotionally when I confess need – that I would be lost without you, that I am not necessarily the independent person I have tried to appear, but am a far less admirable weakling with little clue of life’s course or meaning. When I cry and tell you things I trust you will keep for yourself, that would destroy me if others were to learn of them, when I give up the game of gazing seductively at parties and admit it’s you I care about, I am stripping myself of a carefully sculpted illusion of invulnerability. I become as defenseless and trusting as the person in the circus trick, strapped to a board into which another is throwing knives to within inches of my skin, knives I have myself freely given. I allow you to see me humiliated, unsure of myself, vacillating, drained of self-confidence, hating myself and hence unable to convince you [should I need to] to do otherwise. I am weak when I have shown you my panicked face at three in the morning, anxious before existence, free of the blustering, optimistic philosophies I had proclaimed over dinner. I learn to accept the enormous risk that though I am not the confident pin-up of everyday life, though you have at hand an exhaustive catalogue of my fears and phobias, you may nevertheless love me. "
― Alain de Botton , The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel
7
" ... Eu me desnudo emocionalmente quando confesso minha carência – que estarei perdido sem você, que não sou necessariamente a pessoa independente que tentei aparentar. Na verdade, não passo de um fraco, cuja noção dos rumos ou do significado da vida é muito restrita. Quando choro e lhe conto coisas que, confio, serão mantidas em segredo, coisas que me levarão à destruição, caso terceiros tomem conhecimento delas, quando vou a festas e não me entrego ao jogo da sedução porque reconheço que só você me interessa, estou me privando de uma ilusão há muito acalentada de invulnerabilidade. Me torno indefeso e confiante como a pessoa no truque circense, presa a uma prancha sobre a qual um atirador de facas exercita sua perícia e as lâminas que eu mesmo forneci passam a poucos centímetros da minha pele. Eu permito que você assista a minha humilhação, insegurança e tropeços. Exponho minha falta de amor-próprio, me tornando, dessa forma, incapaz de convencer você (seria realmente necessário?) a mudar de atitude. Sou fraco quando exibo meu rosto apavorado na madrugada, ansioso ante a existência, esquecido das filosofias otimistas e entusiasmadas que recitei durante o jantar. Aprendi a aceitar o enorme risco de que, embora eu não seja uma pessoa atraente e confiante, embora você tenha a seu dispor um catálogo vasto de meus medos e fobias, você pode, mesmo assim, me amar... "
― Alain de Botton , The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel
11
" The word power typically signifies a capacity for action. The Oxford English Dictionary tells us power lies in an 'ability to do or effect something or anything, or to act upon a person or thing'. The person who has power may influence the material or social environment, generally on the basis of possessing high-tech weapons, money, oil, superior intelligence or large muscles. In war, I am powerful because I can blow up your city walls or drop bombs on your airfields. In the financial world, I am powerful because I can buy up your shares and invade your markets. In boxing, I am ,ore powerful because my punches outwit and exhaust yours. But in love, this issue appears to depend on a far more passive, negative definition; instead of looking at power as a capacity to do something, one may come to think of it as the capacity to do nothing. "
― Alain de Botton , The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel
12
" For most of their relationship, Eric avoided paying his due because he knew Alice would pay when he didn't. If he paid only 10 units, she would come up with the other 30. If he didn't feel like driving over to her house then she would come to his. if he didn't wish to break a deadlock after an argument, he could count on her to play the mediator. But he miscalculated just how far he could push Alice. her share of the 40x began to slowly decline, leaven him to make up the shortfall. Only small amounts were at first involved, but they suffered remorseless inflation until the full weight of the relationship came to descend on this delicate shoulders. Alice had in a myriad of ways imply ceased to care, and Eric realized that unless he continued to pump around 30x into the situation, Alice and he would inevitably collide and break up. "
― Alain de Botton , The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel
14
" Wittgenstein'ı bu duruma uyarlayacak olursak,dünyamızın sınırlarının,başkalarının bizi anlama sınırları tarafından belirlendiğini söyleyebiliriz.Elimizde olmadan başkalarının algılarının parametreleri içinde var oluruz- başkalarının bizim komikliğimizi anlama sınırları içinde komiklik yaparız;onların zekası bizim zekamızı,cömertliği cömertliğimizi,ironisi ironimizi belirler.Karakter,hem okura hem de yazara ihtiyaç duyan bir dil gibi işler.Shakespeare, yedi yaşındaki çocuğun gözünde saçmalıktan ibarettir,eğer sadece yedi yaşındakiler tarafından okunacak olursa yedi yaşındaki birinin anlama kapasitesi ölçüsünde takdir edilir. "
― Alain de Botton , The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel
18
" Ze was niet gek, ze was in de grote boeken en theorieën gedoken, ze had geleerd dat God dood was en dat de Mens (dat andere anachronisme) op zijn laatste benen liep als belichaming van een antwoord op het Leven, ze wist dat men geacht werd verhalen met een gelukkige afloop en tevreden heldinnen pulp te noemen en geen literatuur. Toch zat ze, misschien omdat ze een zwak had voor soap operas en liedjes waarvan het verheven refrein zong van de wens om te "Hold you, oh yeah, and love you baby, I said and love you baby," nog steeds te wachten (bij de telefoon of anderszins) tot de verlossing zich zou aandienen. "
― Alain de Botton , The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel