Alain de Botton Quotes

The highest mental health is not liking myself but being joyfully interested in everything but myself.

I have no control over what people think, and if I were to spend energy on that, I would be a lifeless, deadened human being.

All of our unhappiness comes from our inability to be alone.

You can take Elvis. You can take Marilyn Monroe. Success and fame will not be the answer if something inside of you is bothering you, if things in your mind aren't going right.

I believe happiness is a chemical imbalance - it's a silly thing to strife for. But satisfaction - if you seek satisfaction, you can succeed. Satisfaction is knowing that you're doing the best that you can do; you're living your life to the fullest.

If you are lonely when you are alone, you are in poor company.

Feeling compassion for ourselves in no way releases us from responsibility for our actions. Rather, it releases us from the self-hatred that prevents us from responding to our life with clarity and balance.

I have time to breathe, time to be myself more often, I am a lot more relaxed and less guarded.

Fortunately, I don't spend too much time reading or worrying about what people have to say, but the goal for me throughout this whole process - throughout my whole life - is to try to be happy.

The greatest gift that you can give yourself is a little bit of your own attention.

My main hope for myself is to be where I am.

Contrary to the image of a neurotic man created in some quarters, I feel very much at peace with myself.

It seems to me that the secret of true happiness in life is to know what you are and then be content to be that, in style, head up and proud, and not yearn to be something else.

Freud suggests that in order to love someone else, one must love themselves; it's a classic "needs before other needs" argument. Unfortunately, no one really loves themselves . And, if they do, they need to get to know themselves better. Unfortunately, no one is really happy.

I am very happy Because I have conquered myself And not the world. I am very happy Because I have loved the world And not myself.

If you are not at peace with yourself then you cannot spread peace.

the real mission you have in life is to make yourself happy, and in order to be happy, you have to look at what you believe, the way you judge yourself, the way you victimize yourself

I am simply content to find myself always imperfect, and in this I find my joy. Good deeds count as nothing, if done without love.

When you feel WHOLE, things come to enhance your WHOLEness. When you feel broken, things come to enhance your brokenness. That's why you CANNOT FILL A VOID. That's why the premise from which you attract your relationship is so important.

If half a century of living has taught me anything at all, it has taught me that nothing can bring you peace but yourself.

He that is a friend to himself, know; he is a friend to all.

Your first responsibility is to yourself and to your own goodness of heart.

There is no amount of money in the world that will make you comfortable if you are not comfortable with yourself.

Every single human being is trying his best. We're all doing the best we can. But when we believe what we think, we have to live out those thoughts. When there's chaos in our heads, there's chaos in our lives. When there's hurt in our thinking, there's hurt in our lives. Love thy neighbor as thyself? I always have. When I hated me, I hated you. That's how it works. If I hate someone, I'm mistaking them for me, and solutions remain hidden.

True self-love and social are the same.