Alain de Botton Quotes

When I was growing up, I wasn't taught how to feel or communicate feelings.

Animals don't lie. Animals don't criticize. If animals have moody days, they handle them better than humans do.

Men are not usually forthcoming in the expression of their emotions.

There are always suicides among people who are unable to say what they mean.

Nothing is more injurious to the character and to the intellect than the suppression of a generous emotion.

Humans are able to give very good feedback. You can't tell with an animal what they feel.

Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself.

If you don't allow your aggression or negative feelings to be expressed in your waking life, then it migrates into your subconscious.

I'm not too big on feelings.

I don't think it serves anyone to bottle emotions.

We're not whole people if we're just one emotion. On any given day, you can be happy, sad, angry, and so on... As you mature, you just learn to deal with each one of those emotions.

It's impossible to live a life totally free of feelings. God created all of us to be emotional creatures, and feelings are a big part of our lives.

We all are scared. First of all, as a culture, we're constantly told that if you start to express yourself or express your needs, you're needy. You're too emotional. And they put all these negative connotations on it. That has started since we were kids, especially for men.

A lot of times, men like to keep stuff in and that's the worst thing that you can do.

I was brought up in a fairly emotionally repressed kind of society in Northeast England where one didn't express emotions and was expected to keep a stiff upper lip.

The Cure wrote 'Boys Don't Cry,' and it's the same today: as a boy, you're not meant to show your emotions, but if you don't have a job or any prospects, you're going to be depressed, and it will be much worse if you can't express that. I hate the term because it's become a buzzword, but it's toxic masculinity.

I don't think you have to be this macho man all the time, just because you play sport.

Emotions fascinate me, just being able to express myself through acting. I love that. And I think, in everyday life, you're always trying to repress your emotions. Like if you're sad, you don't want to show it to someone else.

The notion that you're not supposed to show how you feel is really detrimental, not just to yourself but to the way you end up treating other people.

I was very sensitive, so when sensitivity has no place to go, it's often turned into anger or frustration.

I'm not an emotional person. I don't use the emotion train that much. I just use the happy card.

In today's society, a lot of males think you have to be strong all the time, and you're not allowed to show weakness. That's just so false.

Growing up as a young man you're often told, 'You shouldn't cry,' and 'Emotions are weakness.' I think that's so damaging and I genuinely think that if we raised young boys better we wouldn't have such a need for feminism.

I think that crying is a way women and men express frustration, anger, or passion. And we should not feel compelled to mute those emotions.

I think the dark psychology of human beings is very interesting as an artist.