--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Our homes do not have to offer us…" description: "\"Our homes do not have to offer us permanent occupancy or store our clothes to merit the name. To speak of home in relation to a building is simply to r..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/903/alain-de-botton-221_airports_our-homes-do-not-have-to-offer-us-perman_1309606.jpg" --- # Our homes do not have to offer us permanent occupancy or… ![“Our homes do not have to offer us permanent occupancy or store our clothes to merit the name. To speak of home in relation to a building is simply to recognise its harmony with our own prized internal song. Home can be an airport or a library, a garden or a motorway diner.” quote by Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/903/alain-de-botton-221_airports_our-homes-do-not-have-to-offer-us-perman_1309606.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/903/alain-de-botton-221_airports_our-homes-do-not-have-to-offer-us-perman_1309606.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/903/alain-de-botton-221_airports_our-homes-do-not-have-to-offer-us-perman_1309606.jpg) > “Our homes do not have to offer us permanent occupancy or store our clothes to merit the name. To speak of home in relation to a building is simply to recognise its harmony with our own prized internal song. Home can be an airport or a library, a garden or a motorway diner.” [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Botton suggests home is defined by personal harmony, not physical permanence, allowing flexible, meaningful spaces. **In simple terms:** Home is about inner harmony, not a building. Key Takeaway Create spaces that reflect personal values. Themes home identity place Mood thoughtful inspirational Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - interior design - travel - personal reflection Key Concepts architecture psychology meaning Questions to Reflect On - How does your environment affect your inner song? - What makes a place feel like home? A Different Perspective The view may overlook practical needs for stable shelter. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Clothes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clothes/) [Garden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garden/) [Harmony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harmony/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Library](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/library/) [Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/song/) ## Related quotes > [“The influence of a mother comes through the voices she allows to speak into her home. What are your children soaking in from you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-joseph/the-influence-of-a-mother-comes-through-the-voices-she-allows-to/) [Courtney Joseph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-joseph/) > [When I speak of home, I speak of the place where in default of a better--those I love are gathered together; and if that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/when-i-speak-of-home-i-speak-of-the-place-where-in-default-of-a/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“What song, what home, what calm or one clarity can I not quite come to, never quite see: this field, this sky, this tree.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-wiman/what-song-what-home-what-calm-or-one-clarity-can-i-not-quite-come-to/) [Christian Wiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-wiman/) > [“As Jack hurried up to his room, some words from the Civil War song ran through his mind:        Give us a song to cheer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pope-osborne/as-jack-hurried-up-to-his-room-some-words-from-the-civil-war-song-ran/) [Mary Pope Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pope-osborne/) > [“Give us a song to cheer        Our weary hearts,               a song of home,        And friends we love so dear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pope-osborne/give-us-a-song-to-cheer-our-weary-hearts-a-song-of-home-and-friends/) [Mary Pope Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pope-osborne/) > [“We’re tenting tonight               on the old camp ground;        Give us a song to cheer        Our weary hearts,               a song of home,        And friends we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pope-osborne/we-re-tenting-tonight-on-the-old-camp-ground-give-us-a-song-to-cheer/) [Mary Pope Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pope-osborne/) > [“We owe it to the fields that our houses will not be the inferiors of the virgin land they have replaced. We owe it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/we-owe-it-to-the-fields-that-our-houses-will-not-be-the-inferiors-of/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [You're told that you're in your head too much, a phrase that's often deployed against the quiet and cerebral. Or maybe there's another word…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-cain/you-re-told-that-you-re-in-your-head-too-much-a-phrase-that-s-often/) [Susan Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-cain/) > [My parents owned a soul food diner. 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Of course, they say the same thing about women with big hair, hapless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-kornacki/they-say-it-doesn-t-get-any-more-jersey-than-24-hour-diners-of-course/) [Steve Kornacki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-kornacki/) > [Like funny men, skilled diners are apparently perceived to have an evolutionary advantage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goodyear/like-funny-men-skilled-diners-are-apparently-perceived-to-have-an/) [Dana Goodyear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goodyear/) ## 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/) [Explore all 850 Alain de Botton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) ## More Airports quotes > [In luggage claim at the Minneapolis airport, the guy came up to me and said, "Maybe you're wrong, maybe stories do matter." 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Escape, maybe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ware/airports-say-work-and-security-checks-and-delays-ports-say-i-don-t/) [Ruth Ware](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ware/) Browse all 490 Airports quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Our homes do not have to offer us permanent occupancy or store our clothes to merit the name. To speak of home in relation to a building is simply to recognise its harmony with our own prized internal song. 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