Alain de Botton Quotes

In every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty.

What makes people the world over stand in line for Van Gogh is not that they will see beautiful pictures but that in an indefinable way they will come away feeling better human beings. And that is exactly what Van Gogh hoped for.

Beauty is first and foremost an emotion.

Beauty does not linger; it only visits. Yet beauty's visitation affects us and invites us into its rhythm; it calls us to feel, think and act beautifully in the world: to create and live a life that awakens the Beautiful. A life without delight is only half a life.

Beauty awakens the soul to act.

Beauty is a great gift of heaven; not for the purpose of female vanity, but a great gift for one who loves, and wishes to be beloved.

..Whoever dewlls on beauty tends to become beautiful; there will be a grace and charm to expressing itself through that person which no one can fail to recognize and appreciate.

Devotion is about you. Maybe you use another object as inspiration, but you change your quality; you walk more joyfully, gently upon this planet.

Making one object, in outward or inward nature, more holy to a single heart is reward enough for a life; for the more sympathies we gain or awaken for what is beautiful, by so much deeper will be our sympathy for that which is most beautiful,--the human soul!

If your inner being changes, your whole outer life will be totally different. It will have a different fragrance, a different beauty, a different grace. And when your inner being is changed and becomes a flame of light, you will become a light unto others too. You will become a beckoning light, a great herald of a new dawn. Your very presence will trigger revolutions in other people's lives.

In the end when you accept yourself for who you are and you work with what you've got, you couldn't be more beautiful because you're confident and everyone notices.

Looking back in front of me, in the mirror a grin. Through eyes of love I see, I'm only looking at a friend.

Faith shows us that we are never alone. Transformation helps us to love the mystery.

Beauty is an understanding of what you have, and it's forgiving yourself of what you don't have, and appreciating all of it.

I'm proud of my body. My body weight will always be something I'll struggle with for the rest of my life, but I'm finally in a good place and learning to love me for me, and not somebody else's standards.

I went to a mosque in Philadelphia with [my wife] in December 24, 1999. And we we went to this mosque in Philly, and I just had such a strong reaction to the prayer. And I was really emotionally - I felt really grounded at that time. And so to be in this prayer and the imam is doing the prayer in Arabic and I don't understand a word of Arabic but I just remember these tears just coming down my face and it just really connecting to my spirit in a way that felt like I needed to pay attention to that.

She's always looking for poetry and passion and sensitivity, the whole Romantic kitchen. I live on a rather simpler diet.' 'Prose and pudding?''I don't expect attractive men necessarily to have attractive souls.

The purpose of soul questions is to open yourself deeper and deeper until all that is left is the power and beauty you are bringing to the lives of others.

I know where beauty lives, I've seen it once, I know the warmth she gives.

...It really IS easier to experience spiritual connection when your life is in the process of coming apart.

And always remember the ultimate truth: life is not about money, it's about emotion.

I think the most important beauty lesson I've learned from my mom is to be happy in what you do.

My message behind this album was finding the beauty in imperfection.

Beauty beheld in solitude is even more lethal.