Alain de Botton Quotes
To look at the paper is to raise a seashell to one’s ear and to be overwhelmed by the roar of humanity.
Quotes to Explore
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We were both in love with him. I fell out of love with him, but he didn't.
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I never got into politics for it to be a career.
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I am so saddened and grossed out by young women who look like creepy, old aliens because of their new Barbie noses and lips. Is that a smile or a grimace?
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Cooking and eating at home is made even better by the fact that you don't have to worry about driving after a couple of bottles of very nice wine. For me that's the ideal combination: working hard and enjoying the fruits of your labour.
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Thou shalt not give birth reluctantly.
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Acting, believe it or not, can get very self-involved! I feel fortunate to have been able to work on things with people who have a very specific point of view and perspective, and who feel like they're doing something very active.
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I draw and play the piano badly. But when I'm doing those things, I'm concentrating so hard there's no room for worry. I find that onstage, too.
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If we focus on loving others the way God does, scripture says that we will be fulfilling His whole law.
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I started coming up to New York at age 17. There was a girl I met over the summer somewhere; I was chasing her. I would drive up to D.C., where I had made some friends, which was about four hours away, and we would take the bus up to New York.
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I've talked to law enforcement officials at the state and local level who say that violence against women is going up. In any case, we think that it's an important issue whether it's going up or not. And we are determined to stop it.
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I work out in a studio. Every day, regardless where I am, at least two hours. I need it. I can't cease it.
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When I was little, I had concerts on the subway, and old ladies came up to me like, 'You are so good!'
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Don't compare me to Babe Ruth. God gave me the opportunity and the ability to be here at the right time, at the right moment, just like he gave Babe Ruth when he was playing. I just hope I can keep doing what I've been doing - keep taking care of business.
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Historian: an unsuccessful novelist.
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We believe that societies and economies only advance as far as individuals are free to carry them forward. And just as freedom cannot exist when people are imprisoned for their political views, true opportunity cannot exist when people are imprisoned by sickness, or hunger, or darkness.
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He who stifles free discussion, secretly doubts whether what he professes to believe is really true.
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The young have less charity for aged follies than the old for those of youth.
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Ultimately, I conclude that however we understand existence, what gives meaning to our lives are those things that serve our neurochemically based emotional self-interest in a sustainable way.
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You break into my house, I will shoot you. My wife will shoot you and then spend thirty minutes telling you why she shot you.
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You know of the how, but I know of the how-less.
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We say we embrace humanity, but what does that mean? We are all defined by our limits, so to what extent can we embrace all this? Because we all contain within ourselves equally the capacity for kindness, as much as for cruelty or evil. And the best of us are able to suppress those baser impulses, instincts. That's the war within.
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America has the laws and the material resources it takes to insure justice for all its people. What it lacks is the heart, the humanity.
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To look at the paper is to raise a seashell to one’s ear and to be overwhelmed by the roar of humanity.
