77,101 books
—
286,966 voters
“Occult Theft,--Theft which hides itself even from itself, and is legal, respectable, and cowardly,--corrupts the body and soul of man, to the last fibre of them. And the guilty Thieves of Europe, the real sources of all deadly war in it, are the Capitalists”
― The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings
― The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings
“Life is unjust and this is what makes it so beautiful. Every day is a gift. Be brave and take hold of it.”
―
―
“When you wage war on the public schools, you're attacking the mortar that holds the community together. You're not a conservative, you're a vandal.”
― Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America
― Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America
“Intelligent, thinking people could take things like this in their stride, just as they took the larger absurdities of deadly dull jobs in the city and deadly dull homes in the suburbs. Economic circumstances might force you to live in this environment, but the important thing was to keep from being contaminated. The important thing, always, was to remember who you were.”
― Revolutionary Road
― Revolutionary Road
“I want to retain my own identity. Therefore the thing I’m most anxious to avoid is any kind of work that can be considered ‘interesting’ in its own right. I want something that can’t possibly touch me. I want some big, swollen corporation that’s been bumbling along making money in its sleep for a hundred years, where they have to hire eight guys for every one job because none of them can be expected to care about whatever boring thing it is that they are supposed to be doing. I want to go into that kind of place and say, Look. You can have my body and my nice college-boy smile for so many hours a day, in exchange for so many dollars, and beyond that we’ll leave each other strictly alone.”
― Revolutionary Road
― Revolutionary Road
Alain de Botton
— 184 members
— last activity Oct 27, 2010 02:00PM
A chance to discuss the work of Alain de Botton, especially the latest title, A Week at the Airport. Dates, October 18-24
Ben’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Ben’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Polls voted on by Ben
Lists liked by Ben

















































