Ninenda

“There may be no better way to clear the diary of engagements than to wonder who among our acquaintances would make the trip to the hospital bed.”
― Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety

“Because societies are trusted to be meritocratic, financial achievements are understood to be deserved. The ability to accumulate wealth is prized for reflecting the presence of atleast four cardinal virtues: creativity, courage, intelligence and stamina. The presence of other virtues - humility and godliness - rarely detains attention. Achievements are not attributed, as in past societies, to luck or providence - a reflection of modern societies' faith in individual willpower. Financial failures are similarly judged to be merited, with unemployment bearing some of the shame of physical cowardice in warrior eras.”
― Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety

“Herodotus reported that it was the custom, towards the end of Egyptian feasts, when the revellers were at their most exuberant, for servants to march through the banqueting hall and among the tables carrying skeletons on stretchers.”
― Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety

“For, after all, you do grow up, you do outgrow your ideals, which turn to dust and ashes, which are shattered into fragments; and if you have no other life, you just have to build one up out of these fragments.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky, White Nights