It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to acknowledge.
Interpretation
Art and literature help us recognize and value our emotions.
This quote by Alain De Botton emphasizes the crucial role that various forms of art, such as books, poems, and paintings, play in shaping our understanding of our own feelings. They provide validation and confidence, encouraging us to acknowledge emotions that we might otherwise overlook or dismiss.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of literature in personal growth.
Taking architecture seriously therefore makes some singular and strenuous demands upon us...It means conceding that we are inconveniently vulnerable to the colour of our wallpaper and that our sense of purpose may be derailed by an unfortunate bedspread
The more closely we analyze what we consider 'sexy,' the more clearly we will understand that eroticism is the feeling of excitement we experience at finding another human being who shares our values and our sense of the meaning of existence.
Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own - but that we could never have described on our own.
The challenge of modern relationships: how to prove more interesting than the other's smartphone.
It is the most ambitious and driven among us who are the most sorely in need of having our reckless hopes dampened through immersive dousings in the darkness which religions have explored. This is a particular priority for secular Americans, perhaps the most anxious and disappointed people on earth, for their nation infuses them with the most extreme hopes about what they may be able to achieve in their working lives and relationships.
Though debts are condemned in the financial world, the world of friendship and love may perversely depend on well-managed debts.
The writer's object is - or should be - to hold the reader's attention.
All books are doors; and some of them are wardrobes.
I have just gone over my comet computations again, and it is humiliating to perceive how very little more I know than I did seven years ago when I first did this kind of work.
You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.
Education is of no value and talent is worthless - unless you have an unwavering aim. Never find yourself without a compass.
Typically, when you read, you have more time to think. Reading gives you a unique pause button for comprehension and insight. By and large, with oral language - when you watch a film or listen to a tape - you don't press pause.
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