[L]ife is a phenomenon in need of criticism, for we are, as fallen creatures, in permanent danger of worshipping false gods, of failing to understand ourselves and misinterpreting the behaviour of others, of growing unproductively anxious or desirous, and of losing ourselves to vanity and error. Surreptitiously and beguilingly, then, with humour or gravity, works of art--novels, poems, plays, paintings or films--can function as vehicles to explain our condition to us. They may act as guides to a truer, more judicious, more intelligent understanding of the world.
Alain de BottonMots clés humor life art vanity understanding criticism novels films desire plays paintings poems gravity anxiety self-understanding
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 BottonMots clés literature creativity importance writer writers-on-writing
Our minds are susceptible to the influence of external voices telling us what we require to be satisfied, voices that may drown out the faint sounds emitted by our souls and distract us from the careful, arduous task of accurately naming our priorities.
Alain de BottonMots clés soul priorities desires influence satisfaction others minds
We are tempted to believe that certain achievements and possessions will give us enduring satisfaction. We are invited to imagine ourselves scaling the steep cliff face of happiness in order to reach a wide, high plateau on which we will live out the rest of our lives; we are not reminded that soon after gaining the summit, we will be called down again into fresh lowlands of anxiety and desire.
Alain de BottonMots clés happiness self-knowledge achievements materialism desire possessions status anxiety
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.
Alain de BottonMots clés life goals desire anxiety respite hopes
The essence of the charge made against the modern high-status ideal is that it is guilty of effecting a gigantic distortion of priorities, of elevating to the highest level of achievement a process of material accumulation that should instead be only one of many factors determining the direction of our lives under a more truthful, more broadly defined conception of ourselves.
Alain de BottonMots clés priorities self-knowledge materialism achievement status
Judged against eternity, how little of what agitates us makes any difference.
Alain de BottonMots clés eternity mankind ephemerality worries
Everyone returns us to a different sense of ourselves, for we become a little of who they think we are.
Alain de BottonAs victims of hurt, we frequently don't bring up what ails us, because so many wounds look absurd in the light of day.
Alain de BottonMots clés psychology
Do you love me enough that I may be weak with you? Everyone loves strength, but do you love me for my weakness? That is the real test.
Alain de BottonMots clés love
« ; premier précédent
Page 23 de 28.
suivant dernier » ;
Data privacy
Imprint
Contact
Diese Website verwendet Cookies, um Ihnen die bestmögliche Funktionalität bieten zu können.