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Top 500 Alain de Botton Quotes (2026 Update)
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Alain de Botton Quote: “Most business meetings involve one party elaborately suppressing a wish to shout at the other: ‘just give us the money’.”

401. “Most business meetings involve one party elaborately suppressing a wish to shout at the other: ‘just give us the money’.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “There is, in the early period of love, a measure of sheer relief at being able, at last, to reveal so much of what needed to be kept hidden for the sake of propriety. We can admit to not being as respectable or as sober, as even-keeled or as ‘normal’, as society believes. We can be childish, imaginative, wild, hopeful, cynical, fragile and multiple – all of this our lover can understand and accept us for.”

402. “There is, in the early period of love, a measure of sheer relief at being able, at last, to reveal so much of what needed to be kept hidden for the sake of propriety. We can admit to not being as respectable or as sober, as even-keeled or as ‘normal’, as society believes. We can be childish, imaginative, wild, hopeful, cynical, fragile and multiple – all of this our lover can understand and accept us for.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Chamfort, echoing the misanthropic attitude of generations of philosophers before and after him, put the matter simply: ‘Public opinion is the worst of all opinions.”

403. “Chamfort, echoing the misanthropic attitude of generations of philosophers before and after him, put the matter simply: ‘Public opinion is the worst of all opinions.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “If we are inclined to forget how much there is in the world besides that which we anticipate, then works of art are perhaps a little to blame, for in them we find at work the same process of simplification or selection as in the imagination.”

404. “If we are inclined to forget how much there is in the world besides that which we anticipate, then works of art are perhaps a little to blame, for in them we find at work the same process of simplification or selection as in the imagination.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Many moments in religion seem attractive to me even though I can’t believe in any of it.”

405. “Many moments in religion seem attractive to me even though I can’t believe in any of it.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “The motor of our ingenuity is the question ‘Does it have to be like this?’, from which arise political reforms, scientific developments, improved relationships, better books.”

406. “The motor of our ingenuity is the question ‘Does it have to be like this?’, from which arise political reforms, scientific developments, improved relationships, better books.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “There would come a moment with every book when we would feel that something was incongruous, misunderstood, or constraining, and it would give us a responsibility to leave our guide behind and continue our thoughts alone.”

407. “There would come a moment with every book when we would feel that something was incongruous, misunderstood, or constraining, and it would give us a responsibility to leave our guide behind and continue our thoughts alone.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “I feel that the great challenge of our time is the communication of ideas.”

408. “I feel that the great challenge of our time is the communication of ideas.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “One cannot read a novel without ascribing to the heroine the traits of the one we love.”

409. “One cannot read a novel without ascribing to the heroine the traits of the one we love.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “In a world beset by fundamentalists of both believing and secular varieties, it must be possible to balance a rejection of religious faith with a selective reverence for religious rituals and concepts.”

410. “In a world beset by fundamentalists of both believing and secular varieties, it must be possible to balance a rejection of religious faith with a selective reverence for religious rituals and concepts.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “A flourishing life requires a capacity to recognize the times when the news no longer has anything original or important to teach us; periods when we should refuse imaginative connection with strangers, when we must leave the business of governing, triumphing, failing, creating or killing to others, in the knowledge that we have our own objectives to honour in the brief time still allotted to us.”

411. “A flourishing life requires a capacity to recognize the times when the news no longer has anything original or important to teach us; periods when we should refuse imaginative connection with strangers, when we must leave the business of governing, triumphing, failing, creating or killing to others, in the knowledge that we have our own objectives to honour in the brief time still allotted to us.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Love reveals its insanity by its refusal to acknowledge the inherent NORMALITY of the loved one.”

412. “Love reveals its insanity by its refusal to acknowledge the inherent NORMALITY of the loved one.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Distress at losing an object can be as much a frustration at the intellectual mystery of the disappearance as about the loss itself.”

413. “Distress at losing an object can be as much a frustration at the intellectual mystery of the disappearance as about the loss itself.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “One has to go into relationships with equal expectations, ready to give as much as the other – not with one person wanting a fling and the other real love...”

414. “One has to go into relationships with equal expectations, ready to give as much as the other – not with one person wanting a fling and the other real love...”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “It is not the contented or the glowing who have left many of the profound testimonies of what it means to be alive. It seems that such knowledge has usually been the privileged preserve of, and the only blessing granted to, the violently miserable.”

415. “It is not the contented or the glowing who have left many of the profound testimonies of what it means to be alive. It seems that such knowledge has usually been the privileged preserve of, and the only blessing granted to, the violently miserable.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “In Britain, because I live here, I can also run into problems of envy and competition. But all this is just in a day’s work for a writer. You can’t put stuff out there without someone calling you a complete fool. Oh, well.”

416. “In Britain, because I live here, I can also run into problems of envy and competition. But all this is just in a day’s work for a writer. You can’t put stuff out there without someone calling you a complete fool. Oh, well.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Overcoming childhood could be understood as an attempt to correct the false stories of others.”

417. “Overcoming childhood could be understood as an attempt to correct the false stories of others.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “The ease with which we can connect the psychological world with the outer, visual and sensory one seeds our language with metaphors.”

418. “The ease with which we can connect the psychological world with the outer, visual and sensory one seeds our language with metaphors.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “At the end of hours of train-dreaming, we may feel we have been returned to ourselves – that is, brought back into contact with emotions and ideas of importance to us. It is not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true selves. The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestice setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, but who may not be who we essentially are.”

419. “At the end of hours of train-dreaming, we may feel we have been returned to ourselves – that is, brought back into contact with emotions and ideas of importance to us. It is not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true selves. The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestice setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, but who may not be who we essentially are.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “The continuing belief that the world is fundamentally just is implied in the very complaint that there has been an injustice.”

420. “The continuing belief that the world is fundamentally just is implied in the very complaint that there has been an injustice.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “It would scarcely be acceptable, for example, to ask in the course of an ordinary conversation what our society holds to be the purpose of work.”

421. “It would scarcely be acceptable, for example, to ask in the course of an ordinary conversation what our society holds to be the purpose of work.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “We need long train journeys on which we have no wireless signal.”

422. “We need long train journeys on which we have no wireless signal.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Though we sometimes suspect that people are hiding things from us, it is not until we are in love that we feel an urgency to press our inquiries, and in seeking answers, we are apt to discover the extent to which people disguise and conceal their real lives.”

423. “Though we sometimes suspect that people are hiding things from us, it is not until we are in love that we feel an urgency to press our inquiries, and in seeking answers, we are apt to discover the extent to which people disguise and conceal their real lives.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “But fantasies are often the best thing we can make of our multiple and contradictory wishes; they allow us to inhabit one reality without destroying the other. Fantasizing spares those we care about from the full irresponsibility and scary strangeness of our urges.”

424. “But fantasies are often the best thing we can make of our multiple and contradictory wishes; they allow us to inhabit one reality without destroying the other. Fantasizing spares those we care about from the full irresponsibility and scary strangeness of our urges.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Despite its maddeningly vague, inarticulate form, anxiety is almost always trying to tell you something useful and apposite.”

425. “Despite its maddeningly vague, inarticulate form, anxiety is almost always trying to tell you something useful and apposite.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Every year, humanity produces some 30,000 films, 2 million books and 100,000 albums, and 95 million people visit a museum or art gallery.”

426. “Every year, humanity produces some 30,000 films, 2 million books and 100,000 albums, and 95 million people visit a museum or art gallery.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “He feared that by leaving her he would ruin her life – so he stayed, and did just that.”

427. “He feared that by leaving her he would ruin her life – so he stayed, and did just that.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “We should forever forswear the masochistic process wherein we seek another’s approval before we have even asked ourselves whether that person’s views deserve to be listened to.”

428. “We should forever forswear the masochistic process wherein we seek another’s approval before we have even asked ourselves whether that person’s views deserve to be listened to.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Our mortality does not call for panic, but for a sense of awe.”

429. “Our mortality does not call for panic, but for a sense of awe.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “There is terror behind haughtiness. It takes a punishing impression of our own inferiority to leave others feeling that they aren’t good enough for us.”

430. “There is terror behind haughtiness. It takes a punishing impression of our own inferiority to leave others feeling that they aren’t good enough for us.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “We are never through with the requirement for acceptance. This isn’t a curse limited to the inadequate and the weak. Insecurity may even be a peculiar sign of well-being. It means we haven’t allowed ourselves to take other people for granted, that we remain realistic enough to see that things could genuinely turn out badly and that we are invested enough to care.”

431. “We are never through with the requirement for acceptance. This isn’t a curse limited to the inadequate and the weak. Insecurity may even be a peculiar sign of well-being. It means we haven’t allowed ourselves to take other people for granted, that we remain realistic enough to see that things could genuinely turn out badly and that we are invested enough to care.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “His accent is kind of irresistible, she says. It makes him feel a little lonely to realise how easy it is to be liked by someone who has no idea who he is.”

432. “His accent is kind of irresistible, she says. It makes him feel a little lonely to realise how easy it is to be liked by someone who has no idea who he is.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “There are people who say, ‘Oh this guy is quite thick.’ I think the reason is that, increasingly, I don’t mind being simple in terms of literary expression. Others say, ‘No, no, no. He went to Cambridge. He got a good degree. He must be Einstein.’”

433. “There are people who say, ‘Oh this guy is quite thick.’ I think the reason is that, increasingly, I don’t mind being simple in terms of literary expression. Others say, ‘No, no, no. He went to Cambridge. He got a good degree. He must be Einstein.’”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Anyone who urgently needs us deserves, in the true book of love, to be our friend.”

434. “Anyone who urgently needs us deserves, in the true book of love, to be our friend.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “The quickest way to stop noticing something, may be to buy it – just as the quickest way to stop appreciating someone may be to marry him or her.”

435. “The quickest way to stop noticing something, may be to buy it – just as the quickest way to stop appreciating someone may be to marry him or her.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “I was here, I saw this and it mattered to me.”

436. “I was here, I saw this and it mattered to me.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “It is the capacity to tolerate difference that is the true marker of the right person. Compatibility is an achievement of love; it shouldn’t be its precondition.”

437. “It is the capacity to tolerate difference that is the true marker of the right person. Compatibility is an achievement of love; it shouldn’t be its precondition.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “I loved her body for the promise of who she was. It was a most inspiring promise.”

438. “I loved her body for the promise of who she was. It was a most inspiring promise.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “The values captured in art shouldn’t remain in the museum – they should go with us into the playroom.”

439. “The values captured in art shouldn’t remain in the museum – they should go with us into the playroom.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Never, ever become a writer. It’s a nightmare.”

440. “Never, ever become a writer. It’s a nightmare.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Pick up any newspaper or magazine, open the TV, and you’ll be bombarded with suggestions of how to have a successful life. Some of these suggestions are deeply unhelpful to our own projects and priorities – and we should take care.”

441. “Pick up any newspaper or magazine, open the TV, and you’ll be bombarded with suggestions of how to have a successful life. Some of these suggestions are deeply unhelpful to our own projects and priorities – and we should take care.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “We should not be frightened by appearances.”

442. “We should not be frightened by appearances.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “A great writer picks up on those things that matter. It’s almost like their radar is attuned to the most significant moments.”

443. “A great writer picks up on those things that matter. It’s almost like their radar is attuned to the most significant moments.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “It wasn’t only fanatics and drunkards who began conversations with strangers in public.”

444. “It wasn’t only fanatics and drunkards who began conversations with strangers in public.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “We are about to understand, but have not yet understood. This moment is important because it generally does not lie up to its promise. We abandon the process of reflection. Not much of a decision about the personal meaning of love, justice or success is achieved, and we move on to something else. Looking at Twombly’s painting assists us in a crucial thought: ‘The part of me that wonders about important questions and then gets confused has not had enough recognition.”

445. “We are about to understand, but have not yet understood. This moment is important because it generally does not lie up to its promise. We abandon the process of reflection. Not much of a decision about the personal meaning of love, justice or success is achieved, and we move on to something else. Looking at Twombly’s painting assists us in a crucial thought: ‘The part of me that wonders about important questions and then gets confused has not had enough recognition.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “The more corrupt the community, the stronger the lure of individual achievement.”

446. “The more corrupt the community, the stronger the lure of individual achievement.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “Being funny should be an incidental byproduct of trying to get to something truthful, not a destination in itself.”

447. “Being funny should be an incidental byproduct of trying to get to something truthful, not a destination in itself.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “It seemed an advantage to be traveling alone. Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others... Being closely observed by a companion can also inhibit our observation of others; then, too, we may become caught up in adjusting ourselves to the companion’s questions and remarks, or feel the need to make ourselves seem more normal than is good for our curiosity.”

448. “It seemed an advantage to be traveling alone. Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others... Being closely observed by a companion can also inhibit our observation of others; then, too, we may become caught up in adjusting ourselves to the companion’s questions and remarks, or feel the need to make ourselves seem more normal than is good for our curiosity.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “There may be no better way to clear the diary of engagements than to wonder who among our acquaintances would make the trip to the hospital bed.”

449. “There may be no better way to clear the diary of engagements than to wonder who among our acquaintances would make the trip to the hospital bed.”

— Alain de Botton

Alain de Botton Quote: “It seems easier to respond to our enthusiasms by trading in facts than by investigating the more naive question of how and why we have been moved.”

450. “It seems easier to respond to our enthusiasms by trading in facts than by investigating the more naive question of how and why we have been moved.”

— Alain de Botton

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