Alain Quotes
Emile-Auguste Chartier, who wrote under the pen name Alain, was a French philosopher, essayist, and one of the most influential lycee teachers of his generation. After studies at the Ecole Normale Superieure, he taught philosophy at lycees in Pontivy, Lorient, Rouen, and finally Paris, where his courses at the Lycee Henri-IV trained a remarkable group of pupils including Simone Weil, Maurice Schumann, Jean Hyppolite, and Andre Maurois. The quotes below are attributed to Alain, organized by topic.
Browse Alain by topic
Alain on Death
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“Life is near-death experience.”
As quoted in de Botton's School of Life lecture, 'On Pessimism' , [transcript]
Alain on Happiness
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Attributed to Alain:
“Pessimism is a matter of mood; optimism is a matter of will.”
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Attributed to Alain:
“Happiness is a duty we owe to those who love us.”
Alain on Knowledge
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“I think where people tend to end up results from a combination of encouragement, accident, and lucky break, etc. etc. Like many others, my career happened like it did because certain doors opened and certain doors closed. You know, at a certain point I thought it would be great to make film documentaries. Well, in fact, I found that to be incredibly hard and very expensive to do and I didn’t reall”
As quoted in "The Art of Connection – A Conversation with Alain de Botton" by Kim Nagy in Wild River Review (19 November 2007). -
“Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval.”
Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 7. -
“Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 7.”
Philosophy had supplied Socrates with convictions in which he had been able to have rational, as opposed to hysterical, confidence when faced with disapproval. -
“It would scarcely be acceptable, for example, to ask in the course of an ordinary conversation what our society holds to be the purpose of work.”
Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 9. -
“Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 9.”
It would scarcely be acceptable, for example, to ask in the course of an ordinary conversation what our society holds to be the purpose of work. -
“It wasn't only fanatics and drunkards who began conversations with strangers in public.”
Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 16. -
“Chapter I, Consolations For Unpopularity, p. 16.”
It wasn't only fanatics and drunkards who began conversations with strangers in public.
Alain on Life
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“Reclaiming the Intellectual Life for Posterity,” Liberal Education , vol. 95, no. 2”
This ideal University of Life … would never take the importance of culture for granted. It would know that culture is kept alive by a constant respectful questioning—not by an excessive and snobbish attitude of respect. Therefore, rather than leaving it hanging why one was reading Anna Karenina or Madame Bovary, an ideal course covering nineteenth-century literature would ask plainly “What is it t
Alain on Mind
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Attributed to Alain:
“To think is to say no, even to oneself.”
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Attributed to Alain:
“The only enemy of philosophy is laziness of thought.”
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Attributed to Alain:
“What we believe shapes what we see, and what we see shapes what we believe.”