The love of flowers is a consequence of modesty and an accommodation with disappointment. Some things need to go permanently wrong before we can star… - Alain de Botton

Lovers cannot remain philosophers for long, they should give way to the religious impulse, which is to believe and have faith, as opposed to the philosophic impulse, which is to doubt & inquire. They should prefer the risk of being wrong and in love to being in doubt and without love.

It appeared that the one area in which Sir Bob excelled was anxiety. He was marked out by his relentless ability to find fault with others’ mediocrity—suggesting that a certain kind of intelligence may at heart be nothing more or less than a superior capacity for dissatisfaction.

Of all the things that wisdom provides to help one live one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship.