The most attractive are not those who allow us to kiss them at once [we soon feel ungrateful] or those who never allow us to kiss them [we soon forget them], but those who coyly lead us between the two extremes.
Alain de BottonDistress at losing an object can be as much a frustration at the intellectual mystery of the disappearance as about the loss itself.
Alain de BottonWe tend to believe in the modern secular world that if you tell someone something once, they'll remember it. ... Religions go, "Nonsense. You need to keep repeating the lesson 10 times a day. So get on your knees and repeat it." That's what all religions tell us: "Get on your knees and repeat it 10 or 20 or 15 times a day." Otherwise our minds are like sieves.
Alain de BottonPegging your contentment to the overall state of the world rather than of your own life: the basis of morality, or a sort of madness?
Alain de Botton.. if you asked most people whether they believed in love or not, theyโd probably say they didnโt. Yet thatโs not necessarily what they truly think. Itโs just the way they defend themselves against what they want. They believe in it, but pretend they donโt until theyโre allowed to. Most people would throw away all their cynicism if they could. The majority just never gets the chance.
Alain de Botton