I feel that the great challenge of our time is the communication of ideas. Alain de Botton challengecommunicationfeel Change image and share on social
My greatest joy comes from creativity: from feeling that I have been able to identify a certain aspect of human nature and crystallise a phenomenon in words. Alain de Botton aspectcreativitycrystallise Change image and share on social
The arrogance that says analysing the relationship between reasons and causes is more important than writing a philosophy of shyness or sadness or friendship drives me nuts. I can't accept that. Alain de Botton acceptanalysearrogance Change image and share on social
Many moments in religion seem attractive to me even though I can't believe in any of it. Alain de Botton attractivemomentreligion Change image and share on social
I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay, rather than the novel. Alain de Botton essayfictionlove Change image and share on social
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 britaincallcompetition share on social
I've had my successes and failures. I know many academics in my field loathe me. I've come to loathe them back, as it seems only polite to do so. But at heart it's absurd; we should band together against the big common enemies. Alain de Botton absurdacademicback share on social
Virtue is its own reward. We only invented concepts like heaven and hell to describe how we feel. We don't feel good doing bad and it's nice to help someone. Alain de Botton badconceptdescribe Change image and share on social
My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane. Alain de Botton attemptpersonalplace Change image and share on social
It's clear to me that there is no good reason for many philosophy books to sound as complicated as they do. Alain de Botton bookclearcomplicate Change image and share on social
