“The best cure for one's bad tendencies is to see them in action in another person.”
More from Alain de Botton on Wisdom
“We never envy another's achievement more than when we know very little about how it was attained.”
“The more people you have to ask for permission, the more dangerous a project gets.”
“One of the best protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on.”
“Failure is becoming someone who needs others to fail.”
“Maturity: knowing where you're crazy, trying to warn others of the fact and striving to keep yourself under control.”
“Bitterness: anger that forgot where it came from.”
Others on Wisdom
Sun Tzu
30 quotes“A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to...”
Dalai Lama
22 quotes“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”
Cervantes
20 quotes“Honesty's the best policy.”
Aesop
19 quotes“Do not waste your pity on a scamp.”
Confucius
19 quotes“If a man take no thought about what is distant he will find sorrow near at hand.”
Ben Franklin
18 quotes“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”
Napoleon
16 quotes“One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority.”
Cicero
15 quotes“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
George Washington
14 quotes“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.”
Sir Winston Churchill
14 quotes“...anger is a waste of energy. Steam which is used to blow off a safety valve would be better used to drive an engine.”
Khalil Gibran
14 quotes“A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.”
George R.R. Martin
14 quotes“A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward.”