In the oasis complex, the thirsty man images he sees water, palm trees, and shade not because he has evidence for the belief, but because he has a need for it. Desperate needs bring about a hallucination of their solution: thirst hallucinates water, the need for love hallucinates a prince or princess. The oasis complex is never a complete delusion: the man in the desert does see something on the horizon. It is just that the palms have withered, the well is dry, and the place is infected with locusts. β¨ Alain de Botton (2015). On Love: A Novel, p.52, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
More Author Quotes
- To look at the paper is to raise a seashell to one's ear and to be overwhelmed by the roar of humanity. β¨ The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. Book by Alain de Botton, 2009.
- Endeavoring to purchase something we think beautiful may in fact be the most unimaginative way of dealing with the longing it excites in us, just as trying to sleep with someone may be the bluntest r β¦ βΆ
- The materialistic view of happiness of our age starkly revealed in our understanding of the word luxury.
- It is this idea 'decency' should be attached to wealth -and 'indecency'' to poverty - that forms the core of one strand of skeptical complaint against the modern status-ideal. Why should failure to m β¦ βΆ
- A notorious inability to express emotions makes human beings the only animals capable of suicide. β¨ Alain de Botton (2015). On Love: A Novel, p.113, Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
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