Alain de Botton Quotes

Wherever we are we have the capacity to enjoy the sunshine, the presence of each other and the wonder of our breathing.

I always say that the times in my life when I've been happiest are the times when I've seen, like, a sunset.

We have to get back to the beauty of just being alive in this present moment.

It is so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done.

My background wasn't one blessed with all the luxuries in life. Nothing is forever and I realize that.

At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.

Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

I've been grateful for what comes along.

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.

When I bought my farm, I did not know what a bargain I had in the bluebirds, daffodils and thrushes; as little did I know what sublime mornings and sunsets I was buying.

Look at that sea, girls--all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn't enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.

These are the things I prize And hold of dearest worth: Light of the sapphire skies, Peace of the silent hills, Shelter of the forests, comfort of the grass, Music of birds, murmur of little rills, Shadows of cloud that swiftly pass, And, after showers, The smell of flowers And of the good brown earth,- And best of all, along the way, friendship and mirth.

Without your downs, without your hardships, I don't think you appreciate the ups as much.

In a meadow full of flowers, you cannot walk through and breathe those smells and see all those colors and remain angry. We have to support the beauty, the poetry, of life.

A narrow compass! and yet there Dwelt all that 's good, and all that 's fair; Give me but what this riband bound, Take all the rest the sun goes round.

When you are at the bottom, you find beauty in such little things, and goodness in such little gestures. When I compare any struggle today to ones that I may have had in my childhood, there is nothing that can bring me down.

I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.

You can take what is handed to you and use it as an excuse to mess up. But I've always handled what was given to me by life. I consider myself lucky. I was never lied to. And I was loved.

I thank fate for having made me born poor. Poverty taught me the true value of the gifts useful to life.

I love life. I think it's fantastic. Sometimes it deals hard things, and when it deals great things, you have to seize them.

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

I grew up with the sea, and poverty for me was sumptuous; then I lost the sea and found all luxuries gray and poverty unbearable.

What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into our daily lives?

In difficult times, it's so hard to look around and to see what to be grateful for.

It is easy to react if everything is going great.