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.
Alain De BottonRead
The challenge of modern relationships: how to prove more interesting than the other's smartphone.
Interpretation
What this quote means
In today's world, maintaining interesting relationships can be challenging due to distractions like smartphones.
Alain De Botton highlights the struggle of modern relationships, where the constant presence of smartphones can often overshadow personal connections. This quote emphasizes the importance of engaging in meaningful interactions to capture and retain the interest of one's partner amidst digital distractions.
Themes
RelationshipsSmartphonesDistractionCommunicationConnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about modern love, you can quote De Botton to illustrate how technology impacts relationships.
More from Alain De Botton
All quotes →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
Alain De BottonRead
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.
Alain De BottonRead
Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own - but that we could never have described on our own.
Alain De BottonRead
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.
Alain De BottonRead
Though debts are condemned in the financial world, the world of friendship and love may perversely depend on well-managed debts.
Alain De BottonRead
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