Alain de Botton

"Rather than struggling to become bigger fish, we might concentrate our energies on finding smaller ponds or smaller species to swim with, so our own size will trouble us less."

- Alain de Botton

"A ‘good job’ can be both practically attractive while still not good enough to devote your entire life to."

- Alain de Botton

"Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason."

- Alain de Botton

"Don't despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don't – surrender to events with hope."

- Alain de Botton

"If we are not regularly deeply embarrassed by who we are, the journey to self-knowledge hasn’t begun."

- Alain de Botton

"The largest part of what we call ‘personality’ is determined by how we’ve opted to defend ourselves against anxiety and sadness."

- Alain de Botton

"Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough."

- Alain de Botton

"I like working with people. I believe change can only come through collaboration."

- Alain de Botton

"A good half of the art of living is resilience."

- Alain de Botton

"The good life is not one immune to sadness but one in which suffering contributes to our development."

- Alain de Botton

"The difference between hope and despair is a different way of telling stories from the same facts."

- Alain de Botton

"Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough."

- Alain de Botton

"One of the best protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on."

- Alain de Botton