Quote by Alain de Botton, On Love

...if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally bloody.

...if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equall

Summary

This quote suggests that both love and the pursuit of power through romantic relationships can begin with a sense of optimism and beauty. However, it also implies that just as love can end in tragedy, the pursuit of power can lead to destructive and violent outcomes. The quote speaks to the potential for both love and amorous politics to bring about undesirable consequences, highlighting the parallel between the two and the potential for an equally negative end result.

Topics

By Alain de Botton, On Love

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

I am deeply concerned that, without peace and a two-state so

I am deeply concerned that, without peace and a two-state solution, the Jewish and democratic nature of Israel is in danger. That's why I have opposed Israel's settlement policy since 1973, and that's why I have favored a two-state solution since 1967.

Alan Dershowitz

Do you think Arabs are dumb? They gave us our numbers. Try d

Do you think Arabs are dumb? They gave us our numbers. Try doing long division with Roman numerals.

We are ashamed to seem evasive in the presence of a straight

We are ashamed to seem evasive in the presence of a straightforward man, cowardly in the presence of a brave one, gross in the eyes of a refined one, and so on. We always imagine, and in imagining share, the judgments of the other mind.

Charles Horton Cooley

Judgment Judging

Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, ther

Power? It's like a Dead Sea fruit. When you achieve it, there is nothing there.

Harold MacMillan

Twenty-five years ago, while an undergraduate at Stanford, I

Twenty-five years ago, while an undergraduate at Stanford, I got a job on campus as a lifeguard, deepening a love of swimming and water that has lasted throughout my life. I took the duties seriously and studied the swimmers with professional vigilance, relieved at the end of each day that no emergency rescue had been required. But the greatest challenge of the job was standing poolside in a bathing suit with my body on display.Work began in the locker room, where I changed into my Speedo and surveyed my reflection, assessing what would be on view for the next few hours. I was plagued by self-criticism. I imagined the swimmers judging my shape, until I made myself remember that I was there to guard their lives, not their fantasies. Later I performed my variation of the same ablutions everyone else did, showering and hair washing, the application of lotion and makeup -- preparations for re-entering the other world of walking upright on solid land.

Elizabeth Rosner, "The New York

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.

To love one that is great, is almost to be great one's self.

To love one that is great, is almost to be great one's self.

Ah, to build, to build! That is the noblest art of all the a

Ah, to build, to build! That is the noblest art of all the arts. Painting and sculpture are but images, are merely shadows cast by outward things on stone or canvas, having in themselves no separate existence. Architecture, existing in itself, and not in seeming a something it is not, surpasses them as substance shadow.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A culture without property, or in which creators can't get p

A culture without property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not freedom.

Lawrence Lessig

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contemp

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they allow disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children now are tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.This quote was used by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Gijsbert van Hall, following a street demonstration in 1966, as reported by The New York Times, April 3, 1966, p. 16

Anon., widely misattributed to S

I have full cause of weeping, but this heart shall break int

I have full cause of weeping, but this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws or ere I'll weep.

William Shakespeare

Friendship will not stand the strain of very much good advic

Friendship will not stand the strain of very much good advice for very long.