Writer Quotes by Alain de Botton

“How mean to buy only as many books as one will actually have time to read.”

— Alain de Botton

Most of what makes a book 'good' is that we are reading it at the right moment for us.

— Alain de Botton

One kind of good book should leave you asking: how did the author know that about me?

— Alain de Botton

It is perhaps sad books that best console us when we are sad...

— Alain de Botton

I think I have grown impatient with just being a writer.

— Alain de Botton

I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay, rather than the novel.

— Alain de Botton

My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane.

— Alain de Botton

Never, ever become a writer. It's a nightmare.

— Alain de Botton

“It is common to assume that we are dealing with a highly intelligent book when we cease to understand it.”

— Alain de Botton

A great writer picks up on those things that matter. It’s almost like their radar is attuned to the most significant moments.

— Alain de Botton

It seems the only way to write a half decent book is to worry oneself sick on an hourly basis that one…

— Alain de Botton

When I'm writing, I write all day. Other days, I sit around thinking. Or I run around from one meeting to another,…

— Alain de Botton

It is perhaps sad books that best console us when we are sad, and to lonely service stations that we should drive…

— Alain de Botton

Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own - but that we could never have described on our…

— Alain de Botton

Becoming a writer wasn't a choice (there would have been far more worthwhile things to do); it was the best, most fruitful…

— Alain de Botton

I always feel that I am writing for somebody who is bright but impatient. Someone who doesn't have unlimited time. That is…

— Alain de Botton

“We had often read the same books at night in the same bed, and later realized that they had touched us in…

— Alain de Botton

Literature deeply stands opposed to the dominant value system-the one that rewards money and power. Writers are on the other side-they make…

— Alain de Botton

The idea of a book that can make a change to your life, that can affect your perspective, is a beautiful and…

— Alain de Botton

“Every skillful writer foregrounds notable aspects of experience, details that might otherwise be lost in the mass of data that continuously bathes…

— 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

Being incomprehensible offers unparalleled protection against having nothing to say...but writing with simplicity requires courage, for there is a danger that one…

— Alain de Botton

I am conscious of trying to stretch the boundaries of non-fiction writing. It's always surprised me how little attention many non-fiction writers…

— Alain de Botton

“The value of a novel is not limited to its depiction of emotions and people akin to those in our own life;…

— 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

It looks like it’s wasting time, but literature is actually the ultimate time-saver - because it gives us access to a range…

— Alain de Botton

“...a book provides for a distillation of our sporadic mind, a record of its most vital manifestations, a concentration of inspired moments…

— Alain de Botton

“Heartache may be bad for the soul, but it's great for bookshops. It's when we are at our lowest romantic ebb that…

— Alain de Botton

“As we write, so we build: to keep a record of what matters to us.”

— Alain de Botton

“Books should be full of stuff you could never say to people in public.”

— 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

Literature deserves its prestige for one reason above all others - because it's a tool to help us live and die with…

— 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

Writing isn’t a career choice. It’s self-medication that over time precipitates the madness it was meant to ward off.

— Alain de Botton

Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the number of Books that were written because authors couldn't find anyone…

— Alain De Botton

Despite the best efforts of critics and the hopes of authors, our tastes in books are probably as inherent & unbudgeable as…

— Alain de Botton

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

— Alain de Botton

“It is surely significant that the adults who feature in children's books are rarely, if ever, Regional Sales Managers or Building Services…

— Alain de Botton

I waste most of the day, then finally start to write around 3 P.M., totally disgusted with myself for my wasteful nature.

— Alain de Botton

Le Corbusier is an outstanding writer. His ideas achieved their impact in large measure because he could write so convincingly. His style…

— Alain de Botton