--- title: "4 Flaws Quotes By Alain de Botton" description: "4 Flaws quotes by Alain de Botton. Plus more from Alain de Botton and more Flaws sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec7/alain-de-botton-221_appreciate_one-of-our-major-flaws-and-causes-of-unh_145610.jpg" --- > [One of our major flaws, and causes of unhappiness, is that we find it hard to take note of appreciate and be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/one-of-our-major-flaws-and-causes-of-unhappiness-is-that-we-find-it/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec7/alain-de-botton-221_appreciate_one-of-our-major-flaws-and-causes-of-unh_145610.jpg) > [Most of us stand poised at the edge of brilliance, haunted by the knowledge of our proximity, yet still demonstrably on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/most-of-us-stand-poised-at-the-edge-of-brilliance-haunted-by-the/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c18/alain-de-botton-221_aircraft_most-of-us-stand-poised-at-the-edge-of-b_506254.jpg) > [“Everyone is extremely hard and troubled to be around. Everyone has something substantially wrong with them. Everyone is extremely hard to live with. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/everyone-is-extremely-hard-and-troubled-to-be-around-everyone-has/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/alain-de-botton-221_community_everyone-is-extremely-hard-and-troubled_771220.jpg) > [“For the rest of history, for most of us, our bright promise will always fall short of being actualised; it will never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/for-the-rest-of-history-for-most-of-us-our-bright-promise-will-always/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9eb/alain-de-botton-221_brilliance_for-the-rest-of-history-for-most-of-us-o_2451901.jpg) ## Other authors on Flaws - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-sonya-parker-86224.jpg) Sonya Parker 23 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flaws/sonya-parker/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b021/author-sarah-dessen-83191.jpg) Sarah Dessen 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flaws/sarah-dessen/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-timothy-keller-91037.jpg) Timothy Keller 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flaws/timothy-keller/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-rick-riordan-79077.jpg) Rick Riordan 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flaws/rick-riordan/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-nishan-panwar-14.jpg) Nishan Panwar 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flaws/nishan-panwar/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-jodi-picoult-50321.jpg) Jodi Picoult 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flaws/jodi-picoult/) ## 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/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flaws/alain-de-botton/#itemlist", "name": "4 Flaws Quotes By Alain de Botton", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "One of our major flaws, and causes of unhappiness, is that we find it hard to take note of appreciate and be grateful for what is always around us. 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