Unrequited love may be painful, but it is safely painful, because it does not involve inflicting damage on anyone but oneself, a private pain that is as bittersweet as it is self-induced. But as soon as love is reciprocated, one must be prepared to give up the passivity of simply being hurt and take on the responsibility of perpetrating hurt oneself.
Alain de BottonSweetness is the opposite of machismo, which is everywhere-and I really don't get on with machismo. I'm interested in sensitivity, and weakness, and fear, and anxiety, because I think that, at the end of the day, behind our masks, that's what we are.
Alain de BottonPaying tax should be framed as a glorious civic duty worthy of gratitude - not a punishment for making money.
Alain de BottonWriting a book has about it some of the anxiety of telling a joke and having to wait several years to know whether or not it was funny.
Alain de Botton