Photo by Moro
“And I wondered, with mounting anxiety, What am I supposed to do here? What am I supposed to think?”
—Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel
(Source: moro.35photo.ru, via harvestheart)
Uphill by David Cheifetz
“The architects who benefit us most maybe those generous enough to lay aside their claims to genius in order to devote themselves to assembling graceful but predominantly unoriginal boxes. Architecture should have the confidence and the kindness to be a little boring.”
—Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness
(via harvestheart)
Gotham by artist John Van Fleet
“It is in dialogue with pain that many beautiful things acquire their value. Acquaintance with grief turns out to be one of the more unusual prerequisites of architectural appreciation. We might, quite aside from all other requirements, need to be a little sad before buildings can properly touch us.”
—Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness
(via bassman5911)
“That said, deciding to avoid other people does not necessarily equate with having no desire whatsoever for company; it may simply reflect a dissatisfaction with what—or who—is available. Cynics are, in the end, only idealists with awkwardly high standards. In Chamfort’s words, ‘It is sometimes said of a man who lives alone that he does not like society. This is like saying of a man that he does not like going for walks because he is not fond of walking at night in the forêt de Bondy..”
—Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety
(Source: criminallyinnocent, via thecollectivecollage)
Why, then, if expensive things cannot bring us remarkable joy, are we so powerfully drawn to them?
—Alain de Botton | The Consolations of Philosophy
(Source: Flickr / enter_agony)
- Alain de Botton | The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
- Alain de Botton
(Source: twitter.com)
At the end of hours of train-dreaming, we may feel we have been returned to ourselves.
—Alain de Botton | The Art of Travel
If we find poetry in the service station and motel, if we are drawn to the airport or train carriage, it is perhaps because, in spite of their architectural compromises and discomforts, in spite of their garish colours and harsh lighting, we implicitly feel that these isolated places offer us a material setting for an alternative to the selfish ease, the habits and confinement of the ordinary, rooted world.
—Alain de Botton | The Art of Travel
Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than moving planes, ships or trains.
—Alain de Botton | The Art of Travel
