The number one person who needs my books is me. I'm not some sort of disinterested guru who has worked life out and is handing things out to the poor people who might not have life worked out.

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• Alain de Botton:

  What I do know from my life is the phenomenon of saying, 'This is too small a thing to argue about'

• Alain de Botton:

  Emotional life is - alongside work - one of the great challenges of existence and is a theme that I

• Alain de Botton:

  The idea of a book that can make a change to your life, that can affect your perspective, is a beau

• Alain de Botton:

  I guess my overall life plan is to think about issues that concern me and try to use culture genera

• Alain de Botton:

  What annoys me about most self-help books is that they have no tragic sense. They have no sense tha

• Alain de Botton:

  We are properly ready for marriage when we are strong enough to embrace a life of frustration.

• Alain de Botton:

  Fantasies can be great, but we shouldn't make the wedding a fantasy, because the wedding is the gat

• Alain de Botton:

  At 'The School of Life', we take seriously anything that has to do with human fulfilment - and take

• Alain de Botton:

  The modern world thinks of art as very important: something close to the meaning of life.

• Alain de Botton:

  Art can do the opposite of glamourise the unattainable: it can show us anew the genuine merit of li