Alain de Botton Quotes
The real issue is not whether baking biscuits is meaningful, but the extent to which the activity can seem to be so after it has been continuously stretched and subdivided across five thousand lives.
Quotes to Explore
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I love films that show people in a way that's so real it's almost unsettling, and that's what really inspires me because I write about people. I write about people that I know, so I want to portray them and portray myself in a way that is unapologetic.
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The most meaningful engine of change, powerful enough to confront corporate power, may be not so much environmental quality, as the economic development and growth associated with the effort to improve it.
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Being listened to and being heard is an experience that doesn't happen terribly often. To listen compassionately or nonjudgmentally to another person - not to get too heavy about it - but I once heard somebody say that was a form of real prayer.
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Sometimes the kids come up with better endings than the real story.
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'Pyrapshere' began as a sketch for a variety show I produced called 'A Pretty Good Show.' My partner, Andersen Gabrych, and I expanded it into a full-fledged faux-religion, including a list of 21 tenets, sacred symbols, testimonials, and even a clothing line. Many people believed it was a real thing and wanted to join.
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Creativity is how we cope with creation. While creation sometimes seems a bit un-graspable, or even pointless, creativity is always meaningful.
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When I write for kids, I have to make sure they know what can't happen. They have to know it's a fantasy. But when I write for adults, they have to think it's real. Every detail has to be real or they won't buy it.
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When people talk about the impact of mobile dating, everyone focuses on real-time meeting - this idea that my pocket will vibrate every time a hot girl walks by. That's important. But it's not transformative.
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In the old days, you had an audience of about 400, half of whom were committee members from somewhere or other sitting in their suits. It's become a real sports event with sports fans now.
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Sometimes you're going to have someone on your team who's just not comfortable with being open. You have to ask yourself, 'Is this person going to allow us to be a real team?' Maybe they're not right for your team. You have to be willing to lose someone sometimes.
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I always say that people should not rush to change religions. There is real value in finding the spiritual resources you need in your home religion.
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One of the biggest mistakes a photographer can make is to look at the real world and cling to the vain hope that next time his film will somehow bear a closer resemblance to it.
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I like to make the best of what I have. I'm not a supermodel, clearly. I'm not a makeup artist. I'm a real woman.
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Relationships are hard. If as an actor you marry an engineer or a doctor, it's really hard for them because they don't understand what your life is like. We live two lives. We have a 'reel' life and a real life.
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New York as an industry is the best city for real estate. You're in a very transparent market. If you need to liquidate, you make three phone calls and you could sell something, even in the worst market. It is also less forgiving; if you make a mistake you can lose money.
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Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so.
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You dread that there will be real problems during filming.
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Then if your movie clicks with real audiences, you'll be sucked into some sort of Hollywood orbit. It's a devil of a place where the only religion that really counts is box office.
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I knew nothing of the real life of a musician, but I seemed to see myself standing in front of great crowds of people, playing my accordion.
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It has proved politically wiser to set goals than to start programs.
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Those two, in paradise, were given a choice: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative.
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I believe that you can love anyone. I've had relationships with women, I've had relationships with men. I don't think you should be judged based on who you find attractive. Especially guys - gay men, they really have it hard sometimes.
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I hadn't even released my first proper single when I started to feel the strain of attention. But I don't believe that it was the attention that was giving me panic attacks. I think it was everything in my life colliding at the same time. It really did get to a serious point where I couldn't even walk down the street without getting the pain.
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The real issue is not whether baking biscuits is meaningful, but the extent to which the activity can seem to be so after it has been continuously stretched and subdivided across five thousand lives.
