My dad was a slightly stricter version of Richard Dawkins. The worldview was that there are idiots out there who believe in Santa Claus and fairies and magic and elves, and we're not joining that nonsense.
Alain de Botton
Related I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! FRANCIS PHARCELLUS CHURCH There are three stages of man: he believes in Santa Claus; he does not believe in Santa Claus; he is... BOB PHILLIPS A cynic is just a man who found out when he was ten that there wasn't any Santa Claus, and he's stil... JAMES G. COZZENS A cynic is just a man who found out when he was ten that there wasn't any Santa Claus, and he's sti... JAMES G. COZZENS A cynic is just a man who found out when he was ten that there wasn't any Santa Claus, and he's stil... J. G. COZZENS A cynic is just a man who found out when he was about ten that there wasn't any Santa Claus, and he'... JAMES GOULD COZZENS The armored infantry was Santa Claus, the battle was out Christmas. What else for the elves to do on... HIROSHI SAKURAZAKA When I was a kid, I believed in Santa Claus. But it was very tough because in the Dominican... there... ALFONSO SORIANO You check out the cover, you check out the backward, you check out the author, you check out the tit... DEYTH BANGER I'm concerned about my daughter because she will not believe in Santa Claus. No matter what I sa... SALMA HAYEK Convinced that we're living the whole time that we're dying. We decide to go out walking the wh... TEGAN QUIN So, you're the Santa Claus of the magic world with a naughty and nice list? ZOE FORWARD When I was 21 years old, I had a job playing Santa Claus in a shopping centre in Sacramento. I was r... TOM HANKS The Imperial Senate, ever conscious of the weight of public opinion resting on the tip of the pencil... CHRISTINA ENGELA The idea of God as a fatherly figure who looks down on us and worries about how we're doing or t... DAVE MATTHEWS We are humiliated by what is powerful and mean, but awed by what is powerful and noble. ALAIN DE BOTTON I remember being banned from other houses as a younger child during the winter holiday season; I was... JAMI ATTENBERG If you look at Christmas movies, there are certain things in them that lend themselves to a 'Har... HAYDEN SCHLOSSBERG I decided there and then to sue the bastards. BARRY SHEENE And then split his own cranium in half. I would like to see you do that yourself Blore. It would tak... LOMBARD PHILIP LOMBARD One of the problems we have in this country is that too many adults believe in Santa Claus, and too ... LEE LAUER It is precisely when we hear little from our partner which frightens, shocks, or sickens us that we ... ALAIN DE BOTTON There may be fairies, there may be elves, but God helps those who help themselves. STEPHEN KING No, he was no such charlatan--
Count de Hoboken Flash-in-the-Pan--
Full of gasconade and brava... EDMUND C. STEDMAN To me in my childhood, elves and fairies of all sorts were very real things, and my dolls were as re... ANNIE BESANT I realized that day that blessings come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. CRAIG GROESCHEL Remember that the bad days are not forever, and the trouble which seems so terrible at last. GEORGE ORWELL I believe that there is a Matrix and... to be more accurate I am in the Pornography Matrix. DEYTH BANGER The other day I bumped into Santa Claus. A good bump it was, too! I ought to have been arrested, for... HALFORD E. LUCCOCK My father managed shopping malls when I was a kid, and my high school job was to dress up in an elf ... KAREN DUFFY Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. FRANCIS PHARCELLUS CHURCH There aren't that many female role models in science. There are a couple of women, but mostly yo... ELISE ANDREW Would people please stop telling me Santa Claus doesn't exist? I met him when I was a kid, surrounde... STEVE MERRICK, STEVESEVILEMPIRE 8. Santa Claus is concerned about the problem of Arctic ice. The ice is the spouse of the elves, and... CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE In 'Rocky' and 'Paradise Alley,' my dad played very expressive characters, and he wa... SAGE STALLONE It had been like discovering that Santa Claus was secretly a Nazi. BRANDON SANDERSON I get bitter, angry and disbelieving and I tell my kids there a lot of idiots out there. I also want... AL ROKER My dad was a serious alcoholic, and ultimately, that's why he died. When you're a child of s... K. FLAY Here is one fact 1 minute to finish the class, 1 day to die, one day behind that fact, one day in th... DEYTH BANGER The Brady Bunch: The Complete Fourth Season AND CITY Everybody wonders what happens after you die[Carrie] I'm too busy wondering who's dinging my car in... AND CITY Desperate Housewives. AND CITY I will never be the woman with the perfect hair, who can wear white and not spill on it. AND CITY A stud is born! [Stanford] AND CITY Courtney (Showing Carrie her book cover): Let me talk you through it. Blurred background, aah, fast-... AND CITY It's such a tribute to my show. My show is so good. I feel so blessed to play such a strong characte... AND CITY You men have no idea what we're dealing with down there. Teeth placement, and jaw stress, and suctio... AND CITY I don't believe in the Republican party or the Democratic party. I just believe in parties. [Samanth... AND CITY Sometimes we need to stop analyzing the past, stop planning the future, stop figuring out precisely ... AND CITY Honey, I've decided we're going to Louisiana. JILL AND We'll have to find new accommodation tonight, JILL AND None of these places, of course, are charging any rent, JILL AND We actors are superstitious creatures. We do all the homework, and we put all of the components toge... LORRAINE TOUSSAINT At the heart of every really good Christmas movie is the threat, I suppose, to Christmas. Something ... JAMES MCAVOY My dad is still Christian Scientist. My mom's not, and I'm not. But I believe in God, and th... ELLEN DEGENERES We're sort of putting a slightly different spin on Steve Rogers. He's a guy that wants to se... JOE JOHNSTON I believed in Santa Claus until I was 12! DANIELLE DE NIESE Much as I like and admire Richard Dawkins, I do think that to call a book 'The God Delusion'... ROBERT WINSTON We're not much of a camping family. When I was in Cub Scouts, we went camping once, and my dad s... CHANDLER RIGGS Just to show the judge that we're serious about, you know, tougher drunk driving laws, we also plan ... ERICA RAMOS Santa Claus wears a Red Suit, He must be a communist. And a beard and long hair, Must be a pacifist.... ARLO GUTHRIE Does a man of sense run after every silly tale of hobgoblins or fairies, and canvass particularly th... DAVID HUME I was Santa Claus in first year of primary school, our elementary's school play, because I had m... JAMES FRECHEVILLE Science has the capacity to uplift us to heights of undreamed of sophistication and quality of life ... JONATHAN R. BANKS I agree with people like BILL GATES My dad took me and my brother to see Corrosion of Conformity. All I remember was that there was a du... KING TUFF I was very much provoked. Of course, I knew there are no fairies; but that needn't prevent my thinki... L.M. MONTGOMERY They just really impressed me. Me and my dad went out there on that visit, and when we were there, t... LAURA ENGEL I want to be in 'The Hobbit.' I love fantasy and mythical adventure films. I believe in fair... JULIA SAWALHA The Grateful Dead were very kind. It was Santa Claus. It did good things. It allowed other people to... MICKEY HART You have heard about the reindeer that pull old Santa's sled. But mostly I hate Rudolph and wi... MARK W. BOYER You're still lovely," Mor said a bit gently. Elain offered a half smile. "I suppose that war m... SARAH J. MAAS I had this grand idea that Elvira's kind of the Santa Claus of Halloween - at the malls, you'... CASSANDRA PETERSON The mass of the rich and the poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else,and the avera... GEORGE ORWELL June and John were the folks who invited Santa and Mrs. Claus to the concert. DORA MURRAY Some of my happiest childhood memories are going to the movies with my dad and seeing whatever was o... DAVID BENIOFF I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store a... SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store a... SHIRLEY TEMPLE As for memes, the word 'meme' is a cliche, which is to say it's already a meme. We all h... JAMES GLEICK Believe in yourself. Believe in your abilities; believe in your talent, your uniqueness on this eart... KEVIN ABDULRAHMAN I stayed in Baghdad every summer until I was 14. My dad's sister is still there, but many of my ... ANDY SERKIS There are 28 species of dolphins and whales in the Santa Barbara Channel. We see, typically, common ... MICHAEL COHEN The first sort of big present I remember getting from Santa Claus was quite a small telescope that I... CHELSEA CLINTON I am quite spiritual. I believed in the fairies when I was a child. I still do sort of believe in th... HELEN MIRREN I believe that all men and women will be saved. PAT BUCKLEY Hollywood views regular people as children, and they think they're the smart ones who need to te... TREY PARKER (Children) still cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality until about 8. That is why t... DAPHNE WHITE Z: "You know, this was a hell of a lot easier when you were out cold in the back of that truck." J.R. WARD We have tears in our eyes As we wave our goodbyes, We so loved being with you, we three. ROALD DAHL Ronald has had bicycle safety and safety in the home. Yes, Ronald is McDonald's, second most rec... JIM CANTALUPO There are the people who read my horror novels - the first two of them - and they found them scary o... DAVID WONG We have domesticated God's transcendence. We often learn about God at about the same time as we ... KAREN ARMSTRONG When I started out back in Louisville, there was Harry Collins. He was my first teacher. He saw that... LANCE BURTON There was my name up in lights. I said, 'God, somebody's made a mistake.' But there it w... MARILYN MONROE God wants your soul for all eternity. All Santa requires is cookies and milk... One night out of the... PAUL HENDERSON I do believe in magic. I was born and raised in a magic time, in a magic town, among magicians. When... ROBERT MCCAMMON We were talking nonsense, and I said something silly about unrequited love, and he became very serio... ELEANOR CATTON Hope is the believe that the promised will be fulfilled. LAILAH GIFTY AKITA And my first museum show was at Santa Barbara, then the de Young. And, I think it was after the de Y... BEATRICE WOOD
More Alain de Botton
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ALAIN DE BOTTON ...if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally blo... ALAIN DE BOTTON In the works of Lucretius, we find two reasons why we shouldn ALAIN DE BOTTON The longing for a destiny is no nowhere stronger than in our romantic life. All too often forced to ... ALAIN DE BOTTON He did not mean to depress us, rather to free us from expectations which inspire bitterness. It is c... ALAIN DE BOTTON At the top of the slope on the perimeter of the site, overlooking six lanes of motorway, is a diner ... ALAIN DE BOTTON I was an incredibly lonely, very alienated teenager. ALAIN DE BOTTON I am not a foodie, thank goodness. I will eat pretty much anything. A lot of my friends are getting ... ALAIN DE BOTTON There is militaristic-hegemonic-plutocratic side of the U.S. which is getting out of hand and threat... ALAIN DE BOTTON It's almost a blessing when we meet people who naturally want to do the sort of things that are ... 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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... ALAIN DE BOTTON We are all more intelligent than we are capable, and awareness of the insanity of love has never sav... 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ALAIN DE BOTTON Blind impatience is equally evident in the fruit section. Our ancestors might have delighted in the ... ALAIN DE BOTTON Bitterness: anger that forgot where it came from. ALAIN DE BOTTON Only as we mature does affection begin to depend on achievement. ALAIN DE BOTTON Don't despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don't - surren... ALAIN DE BOTTON We are continuously challenged to discover new works of culture—and, in the process, we don’t al... ALAIN DE BOTTON We may seek a fortune for no greater reason than to secure the respect and attention of people who w... ALAIN DE BOTTON In Britain, because I live here, I can also run into problems of envy and competition. But all this ... 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... ALAIN DE BOTTON The largest part of what we call 'personality' is determined by how we've opted to defend ourselves ... ALAIN DE BOTTON It is in dialogue with pain that many beautiful things acquire their value. Acquaintance with grief ... ALAIN DE BOTTON The most courageous act in politics is to try to understand your opponent. ALAIN DE BOTTON The idea of a book that can make a change to your life, that can affect your perspective, is a beaut... ALAIN DE BOTTON The philosophy I love is very selective. It is really just the bit that is involved in a search for ... ALAIN DE BOTTON It is hope--with regard to our careers, our love lives, our children, our politicians, and our plane... ALAIN DE BOTTON I learnt to stop fantasising about the perfect job or the perfect relationship because that can actu... ALAIN DE BOTTON He was marked out by his relentless ability to find fault with others' mediocrity--suggesting that a... ALAIN DE BOTTON There are books that speak to us of our own lives with a clarity we cannot match. They prevent the m... ALAIN DE BOTTON On paper, being good sounds great but a lot depends on the atmosphere of the workplace or community ... ALAIN DE BOTTON Travel is a lot like love. ALAIN DE BOTTON What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married. ALAIN DE BOTTON I feel that the great challenge of our time is the communication of ideas. ALAIN DE BOTTON Learning to give up on perfection may be just about the most romantic move any of us could make. ALAIN DE BOTTON Work is a way of bringing order to chaos, and there's a basic satisfaction in seeing that we are... ALAIN DE BOTTON I like working with people. I believe change can only come through collaboration. ALAIN DE BOTTON I see religion as a storehouse of lots of really good ideas that a secular world should look at, rai... 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... 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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 Even if our loved ones have assured us that they will be busy at work, even if they told us they hat... 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