---
title: "4 Anticipation Quotes By Alain de Botton"
description: "4 Anticipation quotes by Alain de Botton. Plus more from Alain de Botton and more Anticipation sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a13/alain-de-botton-221_absence_if-optimism-is-important-it-s-because-ma_518060.jpg"
---

> [If optimism is important, it's because many outcomes are determined by how much of it we bring to the task. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/if-optimism-is-important-it-s-because-many-outcomes-are-determined-by/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a13/alain-de-botton-221_absence_if-optimism-is-important-it-s-because-ma_518060.jpg)

> [The inability to live in the present lies in the fear of leaving the sheltered position of anticipation or memory, and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-inability-to-live-in-the-present-lies-in-the-fear-of-leaving-the/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2bb/alain-de-botton-221_admitting_the-inability-to-live-in-the-present-lie_1579540.jpg)

> [Memory is... similar to anticipation: an instrument of simplification and selection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/memory-is-similar-to-anticipation-an-instrument-of-simplification-and/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/98d/alain-de-botton-221_anticipation_memory-is-similar-to-anticipation-an-ins_1645856.jpg)

> [If we are inclined to forget how much there is in the world besides that which we anticipate, then works of art…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/if-we-are-inclined-to-forget-how-much-there-is-in-the-world-besides-3/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/99c/alain-de-botton-221_anticipate_if-we-are-inclined-to-forget-how-much-th_2206884.jpg)

## Other authors on Anticipation

## 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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