AtomicQuote

Alain de Botton Quote

Nature puts us all in our places. Being made to feel small isn't something we welcome when it's done to us by another person, but to be apprised of our essential nothingness by something so much greater than ourselves is in no sense humiliating. Our egos, exhaustingly aware of every slight they receive and prone relentlessly to compare their advantages with those enjoyed by others, may even be relieved to find themselves finally humbled by forces so much more powerful than any human being could ever muster.

Alain de Botton

Nature puts us all in our places. Being made to feel small isn't something we welcome when it's done to us by another person, but to be apprised of our essential nothingness by something so much greater than ourselves is in no sense humiliating. Our egos, exhaustingly aware of every slight they receive and prone relentlessly to compare their advantages with those enjoyed by others, may even be relieved to find themselves finally humbled by forces so much more powerful than any human being could ever muster.

Related Quotes

Few companies that installed computers to reduce the employment of clerks have realized their expectations... They now need more, and more expensive clerks even though they call them 'operators' or 'p...

Peter Drucker

Few companies that installed computers to reduce the employment of clerks have realized their expectations... They now need more, and more expensive clerks even though they call them 'operators' or 'p...

Tags: computers, expectations, now, need

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

Thomas Paine

He who dares not offend cannot be honest.

Tags: activism, truth and lies, wisdom

Movement is knowledge. Art is perception

Armin Houman

Movement is knowledge. Art is perception

Tags: art, art of movement, knowledge, movement, perception, perception of life, perception of reality

We've made our decisions, We've taken our choices, What's left, is only a hand-full of emotions.

Auliq Ice

We've made our decisions, We've taken our choices, What's left, is only a hand-full of emotions.

Tags: action speak louder than words, actions over words, auliq ice, change, choice, choices, choices and consequences, courage, courage in life, decision making

It is usually unbearably painful to read a book by an author who knows way less than you do, unless the book is a novel.

Mokokoma Mokhonoana

It is usually unbearably painful to read a book by an author who knows way less than you do, unless the book is a novel.

Tags: acceptable, accomplishment, account, accounts, adeptness, admissible, agony, aphorism, aphorisms, aphorist

It's the sound of the sea that makes you believe in mermaids.

Anthony T.Hincks

It's the sound of the sea that makes you believe in mermaids.

Tags: believe, fish, life, love, mermaids, ocean, philosophy, sea, sound

Big things in the glory of the world mean nothing. Small things in glory of God mean everything. Truly..., size doesn't matter in this world or in the world to come.

indonesia123

Big things in the glory of the world mean nothing. Small things in glory of God mean everything. Truly..., size doesn't matter in this world or in the world to come.

Tags: acclaim, acquiescent, admiration, adoration, applaud, arrogance, beauty, biddable, big things, bless

I think it's really cool how J. Lo's been able to balance an acting career and a music career. That's something I strive for.

Victoria Justice

I think it's really cool how J. Lo's been able to balance an acting career and a music career. That's something I strive for.

Tags: cool

The fact that the person who you are sleeping with is also sleeping with another person or other people does not necessarily mean that he or she does not love you. And the fact that you are the only p...

Mokokoma Mokhonoana

The fact that the person who you are sleeping with is also sleeping with another person or other people does not necessarily mean that he or she does not love you. And the fact that you are the only p...

Tags: adage, adages, africa, african, aphorism, aphorisms, axiom, axioms, boyfriend, boyfriends

Mother is far too clever to understand anything she does not like.

Arnold Bennett

Mother is far too clever to understand anything she does not like.

Tags: mom, mother, clever, she
About Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British author and public speaker. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published Essays in Love (1993), which went on to sell two million copies. Other bestsellers include How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997), Status Anxiety (2004), and The Architecture of Happiness (2006).
He co-founded The School of Life in 2008 and Living Architecture in 2009. In 2015, he was awarded "The Fellowship of Schopenhauer", an annual writers' award from the Melbourne Writers Festival, for that work.