Even if our loved ones have assured us that they will be busy at work, even if they told us they hated us for going traveling in the first place, even if they left us last June or died twelve and a half years ago, it is impossible not to experience a shiver of a sense that they may have come along anyway, just to surprise us and make us feel special (as someone must have done for us when we were small, if only occasionally, or we would never had the strength to make it this far).
Alain de Botton
Related When it's clear that we have a commitment to God that comes before anything else in our lives, most ... CRAIG GROESCHEL We were never going to stop even if they told us to. BRIAN JONES Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our ... OSCAR WILDE Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our ... OSCAR WILDE I'm really glad that our young people missed the Depression, and missed the great big war. But I do ... ANN RICHARDS It left us with a flawed system where they try to get there first and they challenge patents even if... GBOLA AMUSA I was a slave, but never a fool. This empire is vast beyond imagining and we have killed only a frac... ANTHONY RYAN We know we can (win), ... although they (US) will make an effort to beat us and show us how they hav... JARED BORGETTI If you were stranded on an island, and had the choice of something to have what would it be? The cho... AVIS JOHN We never know what to expect with Sweden. If they have the confidence, they can have a good game aga... DANIELLE GOYETTE I would say now it's next to impossible for us to make the playoffs. Even if we won the rest of our ... GENE LAMONT Another benefit of this book would be if people give us their photograph collections, if they realiz... ANN THOMPSON Our shots would not go down and we were down by 10 at the half. In the second half, they were too mu... HAROLD CHITWOOD It was really frustrating. Coach [Bronco] Mendenhall told us what they were going to do in the secon... AARON WAGNER That really helped us. If they would have just attacked, we couldn't stop them. They gave us a chanc... JAIME GONGORA We have heard several such rumors. Even if they deported us, we'd come back. HECTOR LOPEZ It's a disaster. They told us three months ago that Y2K isn't going to have any effect on them at al... DAN NILES We knew -- even with the halftime lead that they had -- they're so well coached, and they have such ... ADAM LORIA Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be le... SITTING BULL If Boston Scientific is to come back, they will have to come back north of US$75 to keep this alive.... KEAY NAKAE When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give... HONORE DE BALZAC Even as we enumerate their shortcomings, the rigor of raising children ourselves makes clear to us o... ANNA QUINDLEN I thought when they got the punt return that it was going to be tough for us to keep them out of the... JEFF GRONNER Years of study steal our youth away, they tell us not to waste our time consuming the vast knowledge... ANESU MCDONALD As a group, for us to make a run in the tournament, I think that our sixth player, seventh player, e... CAPPIE PONDEXTER When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give... HONORE DE BALZAC They have to approach us about it, if they will use as a corporation, individual or bank, LUCIO TAN We start a relationship with someone not only because of how great they are but how great they make ... KAMAND KOJOURI It's an experiment year for us too. We had a young rock band last night, more of a kid's or college ... SUSAN HAYWARD Anything that suffers and dies instead of us is Christ; if they didn't kill birds and fish they woul... MARGARET ATWOOD No one else “makes” us do anything. They can’t make us nag them, or make us angry, or make us ... CATHY BURNHAM MARTIN We had a chance to win it at the end and 1-0 would have been a major result for us. As it is, it is ... SAM ALLARDYCE They were cheering for us because they would rather play us than Oklahoma. But sometimes you have to... ADRIAN TIGERT Our top four hitters, if they don't get going, it's hard for us to get going as a team. When they ge... JAY HARPER We draw into our life those who will help us to grow. Naturally, we tend to have mixed feelings abou... DONNA GODDARD Books give us insight into other people, other cultures. They make us laugh. They make us think. If ... KARIN SLAUGHTER They're blue collar like the city. Even if they are football players, they feel like blue collar to ... CHRIS FELDMAN It's one of those things that if we came in as well as we've been playing and they beat us, they wou... BOB HOWRY The best stories proceed from a mysterious truth-seeking impulse that narrative has when revised ext... GEORGE SAUNDERS In time we learn that the ones that loved us sincerely have died or are too far away anyway. MARIANA FULGER Now they have a riddle. - Criminal Minds DEYTH BANGER They have told us that they really don't care if they invest a lot in one quarter and don't make our... JANE SNOREK If we had lost this game, it would've been really bad, not only for us, but for our coaches. I don't... LANCE THOMPSON I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we're reading doe... FRANZ KAFKA You have to give the audience what they want. Even if they tune in for 10 or 15 minutes it's nice to... JULIE CORDOVA One of the things which make any company successful, in particular the Home Depot, was that we under... BERNARD MARCUS When people make a gift to us or pay us their tuition, or when tax dollars are appropriated to us, t... LEONARD SANDRIDGE If they did not contact us or allow us to talk with them during our outreach efforts, we believe tha... LIBBY TURNER My life will be what I make it," he told her. "That is true for all of us all the time. We cannot kn... MARY BALOGH Most of us are not raised to actively encounter our destiny. We may not know that we have one. As ch... JULIA CAMERON We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, ... RONALD REAGAN They outplayed us and outcoached us in most all areas, ... I felt we would be stronger and have a li... BOB STOOPS But beware of this about callings: they may not lead us where we intended to go or even where we wan... STEVE GOODIER We tend to go on loving the things the people who loved us loved. They are invested with soul, even ... ROBERT GOOLRICK We're all strangers connected by what we reveal, what we share, what we take away--our stories. I gu... LIBBA BRAY They have a decision? When we left, they said they would let us know verbally. They really didn't gi... GINA UCCELLI A crisis can knock us off balance, making us afraid, vulnerable, and ripe for change. This also happ... JANET O. HAGBERG If some of those easy ones go in early, it could have been a different game. But the bottom line is ... GREG WAITS Stories can encourage us and embolden us to face ourselves and to feel. Stories can make us feel les... TIM O'BRIEN Most of us think we're too busy or too important to rest for a day. CRAIG GROESCHEL You'll never see the president carry his own luggage, and why? Because even though we know he ha... SIMON SINEK We need cats to need us. It unnerves us that they do not. However, if they do not need us, they none... JEFFREY MOUSSAIEFF MASSON A lot of sponsors over the years have left us. They've all come back. But they chose to leave us... MORLEY SAFER If they didn't put a body on us, they just jumped over us. Their quickness, speed and height were to... ED GOETZ They took it to us from the get-go. They were more athletic. They kind of got us on our heels and sp... JEFF CRAFT If they were going to make us jump our horses that much I would have liked to not have the horses th... NORMAN DELLO JOIO Most men dislike a teaching which lays upon them strict moral requirements that check their natural ... ANDREAS OSIANDER May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God has to have faith in us and, consideri... W. H. AUDEN Our very best friends have a tincture of jealousy even in their
friendship; and when they hear us p... CHARLES CALEB COLTON Our very best friends have a tincture of jealousy even in their friendship; and when they hear us pr... CHARLES CALEB COLTON Last year, we were a tremendous defensive team, and the team continued to thrive, even when somethin... JOHN MARONTO If we know, then we must fight for your life as though it were our own-which it is-and render impass... JAMES BALDWIN They had a lot to play for - if they were on the bubble - I thought they were in anyway. They just p... LORI ULFERTS If only we could have talked to you, the hive-queen said in Ender's words. But since it could not be... ORSON SCOTT CARD The Iranians told us that if people really needed to cross they could cross. They asked us to help o... RUPERT COLVILLE These wolves are completely terrified of us. They need to be. If they have even a chance at survival... JACKIE FALLON If they had a surgery scheduled that would need a lot of blood, they might have to check with us fir... PEGGY SIMPSON We have the real hot stuff, and if they like it hotter, just let us know and we will make it hotter. ALBERTO LEON This is a paranoid regime. Even if the development of the Caucasus airfields … even if it weren't ... KENNETH POLLACK Licensing our WiFi product to Symbian was an important milestone for us. It provides a real endorsem... HUGH THOMAS In a way, pretty faces are rewarding. They make us more likely to think good thoughts. There are som... INGRID OLSON We are careful not to touch the NGO people, though, because we can see that even though they are giv... NOVIOLET BULAWAYO If others tell us something we make assumptions, and if they don't tell us something we make assumpt... MIGUEL RUIZ Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872 God has brought us into this ti... FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE I don't ever remember them telling us or teaching us that the only way we could be more successf... MARCO RUBIO We would not be getting this recognition if our team were not so successful, if we didn't have our t... LAUREN LAPPIN I wasn't really discouraged. I mean, they're too good of a team not to make a run at us. Even though... DOUG GRESETH May it not be that, just as we have to have faith in Him, God has to have faith in us and, consideri... W. H. AUDEN In life, events change us. They define us. They leave scars to remind us of that time in our lives. ... EMILY R. FOSTER We all have those things that even in the midst of stress and disarray, they energize us and give us... ADAM BRAUN Even if it was just a water balloon, even if they didn't realize how much damage they were doing, th... BETH MARTIN Doctors are human animals. They want to be loved, they are tribal, they instinctually favor stories ... ALICE DREGER Everything has been changed. They sleep with us, live with us, eat with us. They're just like it wou... KAREN MCGRIFF Peter, you're twelve years old. I'm ten. They have a word for people our age. They call us children ... ORSON SCOTT CARD We're happy for people to tell us things even if they just find something curious. In the first few ... JOSH YOUNG That is the worst of women. They always want one to be good. And if we are good, when they meet us, ... OSCAR WILDE If she had recognized the person and been able to give us a name or recognize it as being a family m... SCOTT ATKINSON We all have those things that help us carry on through life. It is important that these things upon ... L.M. BROWNING Coach (Kevin Craig) just kept telling us that even if they tie it up to keep our poise. ASHLEE STEPHENS There is a tendency on the left, to think if someone in any way disagrees with the left it must be f... CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
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Pick up any newspaper or magazine, open the TV, and you'll be bombarded with suggestions of how ... ALAIN DE BOTTON Atheism is having a heyday in the born-again United States. ALAIN DE BOTTON What bothers me is that there is so much emphasis on food, rather than gathering and meeting - so th... ALAIN DE BOTTON Though it may feel otherwise, enjoying life is no more dangerous than apprehending it with continuou... ALAIN DE BOTTON One rarely falls in love without being as much attracted to what is interestingly wrong with someone... ALAIN DE BOTTON We read the weird tales in newspapers to crowd out the even weirder stuff inside us. ALAIN DE BOTTON There's a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough. ALAIN DE BOTTON Intimacy is the capacity to be rather weird with someone - and finding that that's ok with them. ALAIN DE BOTTON The more familiar two people become, the more the language they speak together departs from that of ... 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ALAIN DE BOTTON I am conscious of trying to stretch the boundaries of non-fiction writing. It's always surprised... ALAIN DE BOTTON I've had my successes and failures. I know many academics in my field loathe me. I've come t... ALAIN DE BOTTON Sweetness is the opposite of machismo, which is everywhere - and I really don't get on with mach... ALAIN DE BOTTON For thousands of years, it had been nature--and its supposed creator--that had had a monopoly on awe... ALAIN DE BOTTON Everyone returns us to a different sense of ourselves, for we become a little of who they think we a... ALAIN DE BOTTON Perhaps the easiest people to fall in love with are those about whom we know nothing. Romances... ALAIN DE BOTTON A person cannot be at once a libertine and a married Romantic, however compelling both paradigms mig... ALAIN DE BOTTON We owe it to the fields that our houses will not be the inferiors of the virgin land they have repla... ALAIN DE BOTTON What we typically call love is only the start of love. Our understanding of love has been hijacked a... ALAIN DE BOTTON On account of its scale and complexity, the world will always outstrip the capacity of any single bo... ALAIN DE BOTTON Kant and Hegel are interesting thinkers. But I am happy to insist that they are also terrible writer... ALAIN DE BOTTON Emotional life is - alongside work - one of the great challenges of existence and is a theme that I ... ALAIN DE BOTTON The most attractive are not those who allow us to kiss them at once (we soon feel ungrateful) or tho... ALAIN DE BOTTON Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books that were w... ALAIN DE BOTTON There are few more effective ways to promote tolerance between suspicious neighbours than to force t... ALAIN DE BOTTON There's a constant tension between the excitement of new people and security with one person. If... 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ALAIN DE BOTTON Snobbery exists in all areas of life, not least literary criticism. By snobbery I mean, any method o... ALAIN DE BOTTON Pick up any newspaper or magazine, open the TV, and you'll be bombarded with suggestions of how to h... ALAIN DE BOTTON It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless ... ALAIN DE BOTTON I've tried to write about Heathrow before and been escorted off the premises. ALAIN DE BOTTON Because I have this thing about birthdays--they always remind me of death and forced jollity. ALAIN DE BOTTON He was a volatile mixture of confidence and vulnerability. He could deliver extended monologues on p... ALAIN DE BOTTON The feeling one has no time to get anything done provides the pressure that guarantees one does get ... ALAIN DE BOTTON I'm fascinated by Comte's clear-eyed analysis of what was wrong with modern society, which i... 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ALAIN DE BOTTON Rather than getting more spoilt with age, as difficulties pile up, epiphanies of gratitude abound. ALAIN DE BOTTON For the rest of history, for most of us, our bright promise will always fall short of being actualis... ALAIN DE BOTTON In 'Art as Therapy', we argue that art is a tool that can variously help to inspire, console... ALAIN DE BOTTON I was a very un-literary child, which might reassure parents with kids who don't read. ALAIN DE BOTTON In our more arrogant moments, the sin of pride—or superbia, in Augustine's Latin formulation—tak... ALAIN DE BOTTON Partially undermining the manufacturer's ability to assert that its work constituted a meaningful co... ALAIN DE BOTTON Pegging your contentment to the overall state of the world rather than of your own life: the basis o... ALAIN DE BOTTON The solution as consumers is - perhaps surprisingly - to take adverts very, very seriously. We shoul... ALAIN DE BOTTON We don't need to be constantly reasonable in order to have good relationships; all we need to have m... ALAIN DE BOTTON To look at the paper is to raise a seashell to one's ear and to be overwhelmed by the roar of humani... ALAIN DE BOTTON I think of myself as quite a shy person. But when I'm curious about something, I'll go quite... ALAIN DE BOTTON Artworks are especially good at helping our psyches in a variety of ways: they rebalance our moods, ... ALAIN DE BOTTON [T]he unsympathetic assessments we make of others are usually the result of nothing more sinister th... ALAIN DE BOTTON It is not only the hostility of others that may prevent us from questioning the status quo. Our will... ALAIN DE BOTTON The most boring and unproductive question one can ask of any religion is whether or not it is true. ALAIN DE BOTTON Whatever modern democracies may tell themselves about their commitment to free speech and to diversi... ALAIN DE BOTTON The true nature of bureaucracy may be nowhere more obvious to the observer than in a developing coun... ALAIN DE BOTTON To be loved by someone is to realize how much they share the same needs that lie at the heart of our... ALAIN DE BOTTON We fall in love because we long to escape from ourselves with someone as beautiful, intelligent, and... ALAIN DE BOTTON Being content is perhaps no less easy than playing the violin well: and requires no less practice. ALAIN DE BOTTON A storyteller who provided us with such a profusion of details would rapidly grow maddening. Unfortu... ALAIN DE BOTTON We used to build temples, and museums are about as close as secular society dares to go in facing up... ALAIN DE BOTTON The Anxiety of Sunday afternoon: your unlived lives and infinite possibility pressing upon the const... ALAIN DE BOTTON Blessed with riches and possibilities far beyond anything imagined by ancestors who tilled the unpre... ALAIN DE BOTTON We need a home in the psychological sense as much as we need one in the physical: to compensate for ... ALAIN DE BOTTON You normally have to be bashed about a bit by life to see the point of daffodils, sunsets and uneven... ALAIN DE BOTTON What a peculiar civilisation this was: inordinately rich, yet inclined to accrue its wealth through ... ALAIN DE BOTTON Despite the best efforts of critics and the hopes of authors, our tastes in books are probably as in... ALAIN DE BOTTON We would like to go and see the field that Millet…shows us in his Springtime, we would like Claude... ALAIN DE BOTTON Our feelings of anxiety are genuine but confused signals that something is amiss, and so need to be ... ALAIN DE BOTTON Paying tax should be framed as a glorious civic duty worthy of gratitude - not a punishment for maki... ALAIN DE BOTTON It was no longer her absence that wounded me, but my growing indifference to it. Forgetting, however... ALAIN DE BOTTON Perhaps it is true that we do not really exist until there is someone there to see us existing, we c... ALAIN DE BOTTON Every fall into love involves the triumph of hope over self-knowledge. We fall in love hoping we won... ALAIN DE BOTTON Nature puts us all in our places. Being made to feel small isn't something we welcome when it's done... ALAIN DE BOTTON in Flaubert’s eyes, that only entirely illiterate and uneducated Frenchmen now stood a chance of b... ALAIN DE BOTTON A clean conscience is the preserve of those without sufficient imagination. ALAIN DE BOTTON In the past, Flaubert implied, idiots had had no clue as to what the carbon structure of diamonds wa... ALAIN DE BOTTON Never too late to learn some embarrassingly basic, stupidly obvious things about oneself. ALAIN DE BOTTON But we would do well to meditate daily, rather as the religious do on their God, on the 9.5 trillion... ALAIN DE BOTTON To a shameful extent, the charm of marriage boils down to how unpleasant it is to be alone. This isn... ALAIN DE BOTTON One of the best protections against disappointment is to have a lot going on. ALAIN DE BOTTON What kills us isn't one big thing, but thousands of tiny obligations we can't turn down for fear of ... ALAIN DE BOTTON Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books written bec... ALAIN DE BOTTON It is precisely when we hear little from our partner which frightens, shocks, or sickens us that we ... ALAIN DE BOTTON Unrequited love may be painful, but it is safely painful, because it does not involve inflicting dam... ALAIN DE BOTTON It's clear to me that there is no good reason for many philosophy books to sound as complicated as t... ALAIN DE BOTTON Jarenlang kwam ik bij het boodschappen doen langs een huis dat weliswaar een van de lelijkste gebouw... ALAIN DE BOTTON Snobbery exists in all areas of life, not least literary criticism. By snobbery I mean, any method o... ALAIN BOTTON Kant and Hegel are interesting thinkers. But I am happy to insist that they are also terrible writer... ALAIN BOTTON I passionately believe that's it's not just what you say that counts, it's also how you say it - tha... ALAIN BOTTON I am in general a very pessimistic person with an optimistic, day-to-day take on things. The bare fa... ALAIN BOTTON