A clear night sky is a challenge to everything we think we know. If we really understood what the night sky was telling us, we'd have to lie down and question everything. A peculiar aspect of modernity is how we've let the scientists monopolize the realm of the stars. They want to tell us exactly how many moons Saturn has and how far away Pluto is. Fine, fine... fair enough. But most of us don't care about the stars from that point of view. We care about the night sky's ability to reorient us as human beings. Stars remind us that our earthly priorities are only one aspect of existence. — Alain de Botton

A strange part of becoming religious is the way it sends you down the rabbit hole of ancient languages until you find yourself learning more words in Greek and Hebrew than you're picking up in your native tongue.

A strange part of becoming religious is the way it sends you down the rabbit hole of ancient languages until you find yourself learning more words in Greek and Hebrew than you're picking up in English.

The Greek word for ‘psyche’ refers to the mind, spirit, and soul which makes me wonder if the problem with modern psychology is its obsessive focus on the mind at the expense of soul and spirit.

There’s something strangely encouraging about watching Apple fall flat on its face with AI because it’s a reminder that money can’t guarantee excellence or creativity.

If you want to understand a society, don’t listen to what they say about themselves. Look at what they make. So, who are we then? Obsessed with scale, productivity, and the bottom line with little regard for the soul of what’s being made or the souls that’ll be shaped by it. Don’t get me wrong: There’s a time and place for optimization, but do we really want to live in a world that looks like IKEA?

It seems like there’s an overwhelming amount of good content on the Internet, but every time somebody publishes something good and unique, it ends up getting shared. I know the room feels crowded but if you have something worthy to say, it’s absolutely worth publishing it.

How do you know when you're ready to write a book? Tim Ferriss: "If this cannot be your top priority for the next year at a minimum, don’t do a book. There’s a glut of mediocrity in the world. Please don’t contribute to it.”

My book, The Wealth Ladder, is now available:

One reason why so many people despair is because we’ve removed beauty from public life. We could have beautiful stations, beautiful trains. We could make this world so lovely.