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The Consolations of Philosophy QUOTES

The Consolations of Philosophy QUOTES

1 " Everyone endeavours to eliminate through the other individual his own weaknesses, defects, and deviations from the type, lest they be perpetuated or even grow into complete abnormalities in the child which will be produced. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

2 " we would not reliably assent to reproduce unless we first had lost our minds. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

3 " Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books written because authors couldn't find anyone to talk to. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

4 " We pick our friends not only because they are kind and enjoyable company, but also, perhaps more importantly, because they understand us for who we think we are. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

5 " What we encounter in works of art and philosophy are objective versions of our own pains and struggles, evoked and defined in sound, language or image. Artists and philosophers not only show us what we have felt, they present our experiences more poignantly and intelligently than we have been able; they give shape to aspects of our lives that we recognise as our own, yet could never have understood so clearly on our own. They explain our condition to us, and thereby help us to be less lonely with, and confused by it. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

6 " The essence of art is that its one case applies to thousands,' knew Schopenhauer. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

7 " The continuing belief that the world is fundamentally just is implied in the very complaint that there has been an injustice. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

8 " When we suspect that we are appropriate targets for hurt, it does not take much for us to believe that someone or something is out to hurt us "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

9 " There is an easy way to measure our inner levels of abjectness and friendliness to ourselves: we should examine how well we response to noise. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

10 " Being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say...but writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that the impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

11 " ...no one is able to produce a great work of art without experience, nor achieve a worldly position immediately, nor be a great lover at the first attempt; and in the interval between initial failure and subsequent success, in the gap between who we wish one day to be and who we are at present, must come pain, anxiety, envy and humiliation. We suffer because we cannot spontaneously master the ingredients of fulfilment. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

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

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

13 " Not everything which happens to us occurs with reference to something about us. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

14 " We may be powerless to alter certain events, but we remain free to choose our attitude towards them, and it is in our spontaneous acceptance of necessity that we find our distinctive freedom. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

15 " Nothing satisfies the man who is not satisfied with a little. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

16 " We don’t exist unless there is someone who can see us existing, what we say has no meaning until someone can understand, while to be surrounded by friends is constantly to have our identity confirmed; their knowledge and care for us have the power to pull us from our numbness. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

17 " Christianity had, in Nietzsche’s account, emerged from the minds of timid slaves in the Roman Empire who had lacked the stomach to climb to the tops of mountains, and so had built themselves a philosophy claiming that their bases were delightful. Christians had wished to enjoy the real ingredients of fulfilment (a position in the world, sex, intellectual mastery, creativity) but did not have the courage to endure the difficulties these goods demanded. They had therefore fashioned a hypocritical creed denouncing what they wanted but were too weak to fight for while praising what they did not want but happened to have. Powerlessness became ‘goodness’, baseness ‘humility’, submission to people one hated ‘obedience’ and, in Nietzsche’s phrase, ‘not-being-able-to-take-revenge’ turned into ‘forgiveness’. Every feeling of weakness was overlaid with a sanctifying name, and made to seem ‘a voluntary achievement, something wanted, chosen, a deed, an accomplishment’. Addicted to ‘the religion of comfortableness’, Christians, in their value system, had given precedence to what was easy, not what was desirable, and so had drained life of its potential. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

18 " If you wish to put off all worry, assume that what you fear may happen is certainly going to happen. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

19 " We will cease to be so angry once we cease to be so hopeful "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy

20 " writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one will be overlooked, dismissed as simpleminded by those with a tenacious belief that impassable prose is a hallmark of intelligence. "

― Alain de Botton , The Consolations of Philosophy