It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to acknowledge.
Alain De BottonRead
Life seems to be a process of replacing one anxiety with another and substituting one desire for another--which is not to say that we should never strive to overcome any of our anxieties or fulfil any of our desires, but rather to suggest that we should perhaps build into our strivings an awareness of the way our goals promise us a respite and a resolution that they cannot, by definition, deliver.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life involves a continuous cycle of desires and anxieties, and we must recognize that achieving our goals may not bring the peace we seek.
In this quote, Alain De Botton explores the nature of human existence, emphasizing that our lives often consist of trading one anxiety for another, and one desire for another. He notes that while it is important to strive to overcome our anxieties and fulfill our desires, we should remain aware that the goals we pursue may promise us relief and resolutions that they ultimately cannot provide. This suggests a deeper understanding of our motivations and the limitations of external achievements in finding true satisfaction.
Themes
AnxietyDesireGoalsLifeSatisfactionHuman Experience
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about managing stress and expectations.
More from Alain De Botton
All quotes →Taking architecture seriously therefore makes some singular and strenuous demands upon us...It means conceding that we are inconveniently vulnerable to the colour of our wallpaper and that our sense of purpose may be derailed by an unfortunate bedspread
Alain De BottonRead
The more closely we analyze what we consider 'sexy,' the more clearly we will understand that eroticism is the feeling of excitement we experience at finding another human being who shares our values and our sense of the meaning of existence.
Alain De BottonRead
Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own - but that we could never have described on our own.
Alain De BottonRead
The challenge of modern relationships: how to prove more interesting than the other's smartphone.
Alain De BottonRead
It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened through immersive dousings in the darkness which religions have explored. This is a particular priority for secular Americans, perhaps the most anxious and disappointed people on earth, for their nation infuses them with the most extreme hopes about what they may be able to achieve in their working lives and relationships.
Alain De BottonRead
Similar quotes
All that you think is rain is not. Behind the veil angels sometimes weep.
RumiRead
Any person, brought into the presence of this fact, stops for a few moments and remains pensive and silent; and then generally leaves, carrying with him forever a sharper, keener sense of our incessant motion through space.
Leon FoucaultRead
Rare is the union of beauty and purity.
JuvenalRead
A great safeguard is the entire faith, the true faith, in which neither anything whatever can be added by anyone nor anything taken away; for, unless faith be one, it is not the faith.
Pope Leo IRead
Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.
AristotleRead
I hope...that mankind will at length, as they call themselves reasonable creatures, have reason and sense enough to settle their differences without cutting throats; for in my opinion there never was a good war, or a bad peace.
Benjamin FranklinRead