The Art of Failure Quotes

“If I am to believe everything that I see in the media, happiness is to be six foot tall or more and to have bleached teeth and a firm abdomen, all the latest clothes, accessories, and electronics, a picture-perfect partner of the opposite sex who is both a great lover and a terrific friend, an assortment of healthy and happy children, a pet that is neither a stray nor a mongrel, a large house in the right sort of postcode, a second property in an idyllic holiday location, a top-of-the-range car to shuttle back and forth from the one to the other, a clique of ‘friends’ with whom to have fabulous dinner parties, three or four foreign holidays a year, and a high-impact job that does not distract from any of the above. There are at least three major problems that I can see with this ideal of happiness. (1) It represents a state of affairs that is impossible to attain to and that is in itself an important source of unhappiness. (2) It is situated in an idealised and hypothetical future rather than in an imperfect but actual present in which true happiness is much more likely to be found, albeit with great difficulty. (3) It has largely been defined by commercial interests that have absolutely nothing to do with true happiness, which has far more to do with the practice of reason and the peace of mind that this eventually brings. In short, it is not only that the bar for happiness is set too high, but also that it is set in the wrong place, and that it is, in fact, the wrong bar. Jump and you’ll only break your back.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“One of the central tenets of the Western worldview is that one should always be engaged in some kind of outward task. Thus, the Westerner structures his time—including, sometimes, even his leisure time—as a series of discrete programmed activities which he must submit to in order to tick off from an actual or virtual list. One need only observe the expression on his face as he ploughs through yet another family outing, cultural event, or gruelling exercise routine to realise that his aim in life is not so much to live in the present moment as it is to work down a never-ending list. If one asks him how he is doing, he is most likely to respond with an artificial smile, and something along the lines of, ‘Fine, thank you – very busy of course!’ In many cases, he is not fine at all, but confused, exhausted, and fundamentally unhappy. In contrast, most people living in a country such as Kenya in Africa do not share in the Western worldview that it is noble or worthwhile to spend all of one’s time rushing around from one task to the next. When Westerners go to Kenya and do as they are wont to do, they are met with peels of laughter and cries of ‘mzungu’, which is Swahili for ‘Westerner’. The literal translation of ‘mzungu’ is ‘one who moves around’, ‘to go round and round’, or ‘to turn around in circles’.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“the best education consists not in being taught but in being inspired,”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“A man is rich not only by what he has, but also, and above all, by what he doesn't.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“One must, from an early age, be stronger than one's parents, or be destroyed by them.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“The best way to get money is to do something bigger than money. That way you don't sacrifice your life for it.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“False success makes people arrogant; true success makes them mild.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“It's a good idea, from time to time, to do something outrageous, just to prove that you are free.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“We are successful if, having been in the world, we have created more than we have destroyed.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“Whenever you're about to engage in something with an ethical dimension, always ask yourself, "Is this who I wanted to be on the best day of my life?”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“Happiness is a decision, because what's the alternative? It's as with courage. The alternative is not a life.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“Life is a succession of battles in a war that we cannot win.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“Craft is something that you learn; art, that you unlearn.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“The wind, like the word, is breath that has been freed from death.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“Busyness is very close to thoughtlessness.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“Most people are like pre-programmed robots, and unable to go off script for fear of bugging the programme and failing the programmers. All intelligence is art-making, that is, artificial.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide

“Anxiety, says Kierkegaard, is the dizziness of freedom.”
― Neel Burton, The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-Help Guide