--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The longing provoked by the brochure was…" description: "\"“The longing provoked by the brochure was an example , at once touching and pathetic, of how projects (and even whole lives) might be influenced by the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e51/alain-de-botton-221_happiness_the-longing-provoked-by-the-brochure-was_1346160.jpg" --- # The longing provoked by the brochure was an example , at… ![“The longing provoked by the brochure was an example , at once touching and pathetic, of how projects (and even whole lives) might be influenced by the simplest and most unexamined images of happiness; of how a lengthy and ruinously expensive journey might be set in motion by nothing more than the…” quote by Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e51/alain-de-botton-221_happiness_the-longing-provoked-by-the-brochure-was_1346160.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e51/alain-de-botton-221_happiness_the-longing-provoked-by-the-brochure-was_1346160.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e51/alain-de-botton-221_happiness_the-longing-provoked-by-the-brochure-was_1346160.jpg) > ““The longing provoked by the brochure was an example , at once touching and pathetic, of how projects (and even whole lives) might be influenced by the simplest and most unexamined images of happiness; of how a lengthy and ruinously expensive journey might be set in motion by nothing more than the sigh of a photograph of a palm tree gently inclining in a tropical breeze. I resolved to travel to the island of Barbados.”” [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. The passage illustrates how simple, idealized images of happiness can inspire profound life decisions, like traveling, despite their superficial nature. **In simple terms:** Images of happiness can drive big life choices. Key Takeaway Reflect on the power of images. Themes inspiration perception travel media influence psychology Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - marketing - personal motivation - travel planning - creative writing Key Concepts Idealization emotional triggers decision making Questions to Reflect On - What images shape your life choices? - How can we balance idealism with reality? A Different Perspective Relying on idealized images can lead to unrealistic expectations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Brochure Example](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brochure-example-4563157/) [Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) [Images Happiness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/images-happiness-4563156/) [Longing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing/) [Longing Provoked](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/longing-provoked-4563154/) [Nostalgia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nostalgia/) [Palm Tree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/palm-tree/) [Provoked Brochure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/provoked-brochure-4563155/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) ## Related quotes > [“They are strange trees, palm trees, they are so individualistic, so unique, so full of capriciousness, just as Jews are. One palm tree appears…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dvorah-telushkin-master-of-dreams-a-memoir-of-isaac-bashevis-singer-1997-2004/they-are-strange-trees-palm-trees-they-are-so-individualistic-so/) [Dvorah Telushkin Master of Dreams A Memoir of Isaac Bashevis Singer 1997 2004](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dvorah-telushkin-master-of-dreams-a-memoir-of-isaac-bashevis-singer-1997-2004/) > [“Scientists say that the palm tree line, that is the climate suitable to growth of the palm, is moving north, five hundred metres, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-sciascia/scientists-say-that-the-palm-tree-line-that-is-the-climate-suitable/) [Leonardo Sciascia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-sciascia/) > [Mickey Cray had been out of work ever since a dead iguana fell from a palm tree and hit him on the head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-hiaasen/mickey-cray-had-been-out-of-work-ever-since-a-dead-iguana-fell-from-a/) [Carl Hiaasen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-hiaasen/) > [Music was your real passion, this thing you held dear even above family. 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How else could this tree stand tall in such arid land?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soroosh-shahrivar/i-look-at-a-palm-tree-and-see-strength-and-perseverance-how-else/) [Soroosh Shahrivar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soroosh-shahrivar/) > [Grow as a palm-tree on God's Mount Zion; howbeit shaken with winds, yet the root is fast.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-rutherford/grow-as-a-palm-tree-on-god-s-mount-zion-howbeit-shaken-with-winds-yet/) [Samuel Rutherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-rutherford/) > [I'm not sure I like the idea of polar bears under a palm tree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lenny-henry/i-m-not-sure-i-like-the-idea-of-polar-bears-under-a-palm-tree/) [Lenny Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lenny-henry/) > [I suppose that few people ever forget the first sight of a palm-tree of any species. I vividly remember seeing one for the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabella-bird/i-suppose-that-few-people-ever-forget-the-first-sight-of-a-palm-tree/) [Isabella Bird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabella-bird/) > [“One of my favorite album covers is On the Beach. Of course that was the name of a movie and I stole it for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-young/one-of-my-favorite-album-covers-is-on-the-beach-of-course-that-was/) [Neil Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-young/) > [I enjoy art, architecture, museums, churches and temples; anything that gives me insight into the history and soul of the place I'm in. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherie-lunghi/i-enjoy-art-architecture-museums-churches-and-temples-anything-that/) [Cherie Lunghi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherie-lunghi/) > [Enjoyment, on the other hand, is not always pleasant, and it can be very stressful at times. A mountain climber, for example, may be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/enjoyment-on-the-other-hand-is-not-always-pleasant-and-it-can-be-very/) [Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/) > [I see a girl caught in the remains of a holiday gone bad, with her flesh picked off day after day as the carcass…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-halse-anderson/i-see-a-girl-caught-in-the-remains-of-a-holiday-gone-bad-with-her/) [Laurie Halse Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-halse-anderson/) > [I think England has served me very well. I like living in London for the reasons I gave. I have absolutely no intentions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-firth/i-think-england-has-served-me-very-well-i-like-living-in-london-for/) [Colin Firth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-firth/) > [“The growth of his power and fame was matched, in my imagination, by the degree of the punishment I would have liked to inflict…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nabokov-i-tyrants-destroyed-i/the-growth-of-his-power-and-fame-was-matched-in-my-imagination-by-the/) [Nabokov i Tyrants Destroyed i](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nabokov-i-tyrants-destroyed-i/) > [I was a farm kid from the plains of South Venezuela, from a very poor family. I grew up in a palm tree house…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugo-chavez/i-was-a-farm-kid-from-the-plains-of-south-venezuela-from-a-very-poor/) [Hugo Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugo-chavez/) ## More by Alain de Botton > [“To be mature is, we're told, to move beyond possessiveness. Jealousy is for babies. 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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 Happiness quotes > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Remember that your natural state is joy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/remember-that-your-natural-state-is-joy/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [Balance suggests a perfect equilibrium. There is no such thing. That is a false expectation… There are going to be priorities and dimensions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-morrison/balance-suggests-a-perfect-equilibrium-there-is-no-such-thing-that-is/) [Denise Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-morrison/) > [“WE CAN'T ALWAYS CONTROL OUR CIRCUMSTANCES BUT WE CAN CONTROL OUR ATTITUDE. WE MUST BE MORE CONCERNED WITH WHAT WE DO WITH WHAT HAPPENS…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-j-ashton/we-can-t-always-control-our-circumstances-but-we-can-control-our/) [MARVIN J. ASHTON](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-j-ashton/) > [I can skate beautifully. While performing on ice I always try to please the audience and to win as well. Being artistic is very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evgeni-plushenko/i-can-skate-beautifully-while-performing-on-ice-i-always-try-to/) [Evgeni Plushenko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evgeni-plushenko/) > [Sometimes we wish for the feel but we never understand that we have to give a lot to get the feel !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reynolds/sometimes-we-wish-for-the-feel-but-we-never-understand-that-we-have/) [Robert Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-reynolds/) > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It was beautiful. He thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life; that, having seen it, he could die content,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mira-grant/it-was-beautiful-he-thought-he-had-never-seen-anything-so-beautiful/) [Mira Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mira-grant/) > [The happy have whole days,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colley-cibber/the-happy-have-whole-days/) [Colley Cibber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colley-cibber/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [I've got nothing to do today but smile.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-ve-got-nothing-to-do-today-but-smile/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Her dignity consists in being unknown to the world; her glory is in the esteem of her husband; her pleasures in the happiness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-jacques-rousseau/her-dignity-consists-in-being-unknown-to-the-world-her-glory-is-in/) [Jean-Jacques Rousseau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-jacques-rousseau/) > [The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-size-of-a-man-s-understanding-might-always-be-justly-measured-by/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Positive thinking evokes more energy, more initiative, more happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/positive-thinking-evokes-more-energy-more-initiative-more-happiness/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When you have a choice, choose happy!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pancho-barnes/when-you-have-a-choice-choose-happy/) [Pancho Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pancho-barnes/) [Browse all 40,288 Happiness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happiness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The longing provoked by the brochure was an example , at once touching and pathetic, of how projects (and even whole lives) might be influenced by the simplest and most unexamined images of happiness; of how a lengthy and ruinously expensive journey might be set in motion by nothing more than the sigh of a photograph of a palm tree gently inclining in a tropical breeze. 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