Emily D

“Though we can of course use our minds without being in pain, Proust's suggestion is that we become properly inquisitive only when distressed. We suffer, therefore we think, and we do so because thinking helps us to place pain in context. It helps us to understand its origins, plot its dimensions, and reconcile ourselves to its presence.”
― Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life

“If, as Proust suggests, we are obliged to create our own language, it is because there are dimensions to ourselves absent from clichés, which require us to flout etiquette in order to convey with greater accuracy the distinctive timbre of our thought.”
― Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life

“Although Rizal's novels are so familiar that we even have nicknames for them, nobody takes the Noli or Fili to read on holiday except for students cramming for an exam. Studying Rizal should result in an appreciation of his life and works, but all this has turned into a boring chore.”
― Ambeth Ocampo

“Agreements in the organizations of world power are never reached on the floor. They are made in the delegates' lounge and corridors long before the voting begins.”
― Carlos P. Romulo, I Walked With Heroes