People Quotes by Alain de Botton

Many people in the intellectual elite are very scared of shouting. They insist on very quiet murmurs.

— Alain de Botton

I like working with people. I believe change can only come through collaboration.

— Alain de Botton

How generous was it to offer gifts to people one knew would never accept them?

— Alain de Botton

Gaffe-focused journalism: revenge of intelligent people who know true evils are out there but lack the access/time to get to them.

— Alain de Botton

Reputation matters so much only because people so seldom think for themselves.

— Alain de Botton

Forcing people to eat together is an effective way to promote tolerance.

— Alain de Botton

There may be significant things to learn about people by looking at what annoys them most.

— Alain de Botton

Among adults, we can admit that of course, characters are creations. They aren't real people.

— Alain de Botton

The dream of the news is that it makes us care about other people and situations. But we cannot identify with people…

— Alain de Botton

I think people want to get married to end their emotional uncertainty. In a way, they want to end powerful feelings, or…

— Alain de Botton

There are people who say, 'Oh this guy is quite thick.' I think the reason is that, increasingly, I don't mind being…

— Alain de Botton

We are certainly influenced by role models, and if we are surrounded by images of beautiful rich people, we will start to…

— Alain de Botton

When work is not going well, it's useful to remember that our identities stretch beyond what is on the business card, that…

— Alain de Botton

We should read other people's books in order to learn what we feel; it is our own thoughts we should be developing,…

— Alain de Botton

Therapy and counseling can do wonderful things for people. But they have emerged so far as what are sometimes called 'cottage industries'…

— Alain de Botton

The number one person who needs my books is me. I'm not some sort of disinterested guru who has worked life out…

— Alain de Botton

.. if you asked most people whether they believed in love or not, they’d probably say they didn’t. Yet that’s not necessarily…

— Alain de Botton

To be loved by someone is to realize how much they share the same needs that lie at the heart of our…

— Alain de Botton

There are things that are not spoken about in polite society. Very quickly in most conversations you'll reach a moment where someone…

— Alain de Botton

We tend to think of philosophies as produced by professional philosophers. Traditionally, this has meant people who have written dissertations on obscure…

— Alain de Botton

A city like London is sociable in a sense that there are people gathering in bars and restaurants, concerts and lectures. Yet…

— Alain de Botton

It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened…

— Alain de Botton

That said, deciding to avoid other people does not necessarily equate with having no desire whatsoever for company; it may simply reflect…

— Alain de Botton

I was foreign and Jewish, with a funny name, and was very small and hated sport, a real problem at an English…

— Alain de Botton

People who go on to be writers are those who can forgive themselves the horror of the first draft.

— Alain de Botton

Getting to the top has an unfortunate tendency to persuade people that the system is OK after all.

— Alain de Botton

Everyone wants a better life: very few of us want to be better people.

— Alain de Botton

An argument in a couple: 2 people attempting to introduce each other to important truths - by panicked shouting.

— Alain de Botton

For paranoia about 'what other people think' : remember that only some hate, a very few love - and almost all just…

— Alain de Botton

People only get really interesting when they start to rattle the bars of their cages.

— Alain de Botton

The most unbearable thing about many successful people is not - as we flatteringly think - how lazy they are, but how…

— Alain de Botton

The more dignity is widely and freely available in a society, the less people want to be famous.

— Alain de Botton

Politics is so difficult, it's generally only people who aren't quite up to the task who feel convinced they are.

— Alain de Botton

Some of the reason why we marry the wrong people is that we don't really understand ourselves.

— Alain de Botton

Trying to be a sort of intellectual in the public arena is very irritating to people. They think, 'Why is this bugger…

— Alain de Botton

What should worry us is not the number of people that oppose us, but how good their reasons are for doing so.

— Alain de Botton

People who readily accept the need for a gym will resist that their personalities might need some work too.

— Alain de Botton

The company of certain people may excite our generosity and sensitivity, while that of others awakens our competitiveness and envy.

— Alain de Botton

There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.

— Alain de Botton

The only people we can think of as normal are those we don't yet know very well.

— Alain de Botton