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
I think people want to get married to end their emotional uncertainty. In a way, they want to end powerful feelings, or certainly the negative ones.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often seek marriage as a way to resolve their emotional confusion and to find stability in their feelings.
Alain De Botton suggests that the desire to marry stems from a profound need to find resolution in one's emotional landscape. For many, marriage appears to offer a solution to the fear and pain associated with negative emotions, providing a sense of security and commitment that can alleviate emotional uncertainty.
Themes
MarriageEmotionsUncertaintyCommitmentRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In discussions about relationships, one could say, 'As Alain De Botton pointed out, many people pursue marriage to eliminate emotional uncertainty.'
More from Alain De Botton
All quotes βTaking 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
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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.
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Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own - but that we could never have described on our own.
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The challenge of modern relationships: how to prove more interesting than the other's smartphone.
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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
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