“You normally have to be bashed about a bit by life to see the point of daffodils, sunsets and uneventful nice days.”
More from Alain de Botton on Life
“What kills us isn't one big thing, but thousands of tiny obligations we can't turn down for fear of disappointing others.”
“Being content is perhaps no less easy than playing the violin well: and requires no less practice.”
“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.”
“Learning to give up on perfection may be just about the most romantic move any of us could make.”
“It is perhaps when our lives are at their most problematic that we are likely to be most receptive to beautiful things.”
“There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough.”
“The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to.”
“Not being understood may be taken as a sign that there is much in one to understand.”
“The difference between hope and despair is a different way of telling stories from the same facts.”
“Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason.”
Others on Life
Jonathan Safran Foer
22 quotes“Anyone who believes that a second is faster than a decade did not live life.”
Mitch Albom
18 quotes“Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
16 quotes“It is good to be alone, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult should be one more reason to do it.”
Henry Miller
15 quotes“Surely every one realizes, at some point along the way, that he is capable of living a far better life than the one he h...”
Virginia Woolf
14 quotes“. . . clumsiness is often mated with a love of solitude.”
Cormac McCarthy
14 quotes“Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real.”
Lord Byron
14 quotes“Admire exult despise laugh weep - for here There is such matter for all feelings: - Man! Thou pendulum betwixt a smi...”
Joseph Campbell
14 quotes“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you ar...”
Sarah Dessen
13 quotes“All I'd ever thought I wanted was to be left alone. Until I was.”
Paulo Coelho
13 quotes“I've noticed that loneliness gets stronger when we try to face it down, but gets weaker when we simply ignore it.”
Margaret Atwood
13 quotes“Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.”
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
13 quotes“Time goes faster the more hollow it is. Lives with no meaning go straight past you, like trains that don’t stop at your...”