Alain de Botton Quotes

I know all the critics.

Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.

Before one blames, one should always find out whether one cannot excuse. To discover little faults has been always the particularity of such brains that are a little or not at all above the average. The superior ones keep quiet or say something against the whole and the great minds transform without blaming.

Being smart spoils a lot of things, doesn't it?

Let those find fault whose wit's so very small, They've need to show that they can think at all; Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; He who would search for pearls, must dive below. Fops may have leave to level all they can; As pigmies would be glad to lop a man. Half-wits are fleas; so little and so light, We scarce could know they live, but that they bite.

You cannot be wise without some basis of knowledge, but you may easily acquire knowledge and remain bare of wisdom.

Do you know, André, I sometimes think that you have no heart.' 'Presumably because I sometimes betray intelligence.

Just then, with a wink and a sly normal lurch, The owl very gravely got down from his perch, Walked round, and regarded his fault-finding critic (Who thought he was stuffed) with a glance analytic.

If you think something's stupid, it probably is.

I don't know whether I'm misanthropic. It seems to me I'm constantly disappointed. I'm very easily disappointed. Disappointed in the things that people do; disappointed in the things that people construct. I want things to be better all the time.

It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to.

People are a lot smarter than anyone gives them credit for being.

It takes an extraordinary intelligence to contemplate the obvious.

Everyone complains of his memory, but no one complains of his judgment.

Intellect is invisible to the man who has none.

Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre [journalists]

Ability to discern that what is true is true, and that what is false is false, is the characteristic of intelligence.

I think people got more common sense than people give 'em credit for.

Some information is important, and some is not, and intelligence consists in knowing one from the other.

Everything is not serious. If you don't like what I'm saying, change the channel - don't look at me, don't buy a ticket. You either get it or you don't, and it's fascinating because it's usually intelligent people with a sense of humor who get it.

Since I'm not in WWE, some people think I'm not even in their league. It's easy for me to tune those people out because they have no idea what they're talking about.

What I really love about philosophers and psychologists is that they sound smart.

We should never overestimate an audience's culture, but we should never underestimate their intelligence.

I don't make many mental mistakes. Yeah, I'm smarter than I look.

Disappointment is a good sign of basic intelligence. It cannot be compared to anything else: it is so sharp, precise, obvious, and direct. If we can open, then we suddenly begin to see that our expectations are irrelevant compared with the reality of the situations we are facing.