---
title: "3 Adulthood Quotes By Alain de Botton"
description: "3 Adulthood quotes by Alain de Botton. Plus more from Alain de Botton and more Adulthood sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/388/alain-de-botton-221_adulthood_adulthood-involves-learning-to-conclusiv_206129.jpg"
---

> [“Adulthood involves learning to conclusively bury a great many of our hopes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/adulthood-involves-learning-to-conclusively-bury-a-great-many-of-our/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/388/alain-de-botton-221_adulthood_adulthood-involves-learning-to-conclusiv_206129.jpg)

> [If the behaviour of babies and small children is any guide, we emerge into the world with our tendencies to imbalance already…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/if-the-behaviour-of-babies-and-small-children-is-any-guide-we-emerge/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2f/alain-de-botton-221_adulthood_if-the-behaviour-of-babies-and-small-chi_575371.jpg)

> [Parent and child may both love, but - unbeknown to the child - each party is on a different end of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/parent-and-child-may-both-love-but-unbeknown-to-the-child-each-party/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a23/alain-de-botton-221_adulthood_parent-and-child-may-both-love-but-unbek_1710163.jpg)

## Other authors on Adulthood

- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-sloane-crosley-85904.jpg) Sloane Crosley 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/sloane-crosley/)
- [Alida Nugent 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/alida-nugent/)
- [Mokokoma Mokhonoana 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/mokokoma-mokhonoana/)
- [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-gretchen-rubin-39517.jpg) Gretchen Rubin 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adulthood/gretchen-rubin/)

## More by Alain de Botton

> [“To be mature is, we're told, to move beyond possessiveness. Jealousy is for babies. The mature person knows that no one owns anyone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/to-be-mature-is-we-re-told-to-move-beyond-possessiveness-jealousy-is/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [“He feared that by leaving her he would ruin her life - so he stayed, and did just that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/he-feared-that-by-leaving-her-he-would-ruin-her-life-so-he-stayed-and/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [You have to be quite heavily invested in someone to do them the honour of telling them you're annoyed with them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/you-have-to-be-quite-heavily-invested-in-someone-to-do-them-the/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [“The Anxiety of Sunday afternoon: your unlived lives and infinite possibility pressing upon the constraints of reality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-anxiety-of-sunday-afternoon-your-unlived-lives-and-infinite/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [Those who divorce aren't necessarily the most unhappy, just those neatly able to believe their misery is caused by one other person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/those-who-divorce-aren-t-necessarily-the-most-unhappy-just-those/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [“We could not be fulfilled if we weren't inauthentic some of the time—inauthentic, that is, in relation to such things as our passing desires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/we-could-not-be-fulfilled-if-we-weren-t-inauthentic-some-of-the-time/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [“Insofar as we appreciate order, it is when we perceive it as being accompanied by complexity, when we feel that a variety of elements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/insofar-as-we-appreciate-order-it-is-when-we-perceive-it-as-being/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [I like the values associated with a medical family - common sense, being practical but also thoughtful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/i-like-the-values-associated-with-a-medical-family-common-sense-being/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [“Anyone who urgently needs us deserves, in the true book of love, to be our friend.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/anyone-who-urgently-needs-us-deserves-in-the-true-book-of-love-to-be/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [“We can then recognize that we invented religions to serve two central needs which continue to this day and which secular society has not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/we-can-then-recognize-that-we-invented-religions-to-serve-two-central/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [“Half the ingratitude and complacency in the world down to how slowly and imperceptibly most good and bad things unfold.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/half-the-ingratitude-and-complacency-in-the-world-down-to-how-slowly/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [It is perhaps when our lives are at their most problematic that we are likely to be most receptive to beautiful things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/it-is-perhaps-when-our-lives-are-at-their-most-problematic-that-we/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [“Does what is praised becomes better? Does an emerald become worse if it isn't praised? And what a gold, ivory, a flower or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/does-what-is-praised-becomes-better-does-an-emerald-become-worse-if/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identified with leisure were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-bourgeois-thinkers-of-the-eighteenth-century-thus-turned/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

> [Reputation matters so much only because people so seldom think for themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/reputation-matters-so-much-only-because-people-so-seldom-think-for/)

[Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/)

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