The Art of Travel

by

Alain De Botton

A Biblical character who suddenly loses his immense wealth and good fortune when most of his livestock are stolen, his eldest son is killed, and he becomes covered in sores. He asks God what he has done to deserve this fate, and God replies that Job has no right to question the logic of the universe or the power of the almighty, which infinitely exceeds him. De Botton uses the Book of Job to demonstrate how encountering the sublime can lead people to acknowledge the limits of the human will and accept the inevitability of human insignificance in the universe.

Job Quotes in The Art of Travel

The The Art of Travel quotes below are all either spoken by Job or refer to Job. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Familiar and the Foreign Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

The world may appear illogical to you, but it does not follow that it is illogical per se. Our lives are not the measure of all things: consider sublime places for a reminder of human insignificance and frailty.

Related Characters: Alain de Botton (speaker), God, Job
Page Number: 171
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Art of Travel PDF

Job Quotes in The Art of Travel

The The Art of Travel quotes below are all either spoken by Job or refer to Job. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Familiar and the Foreign Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

The world may appear illogical to you, but it does not follow that it is illogical per se. Our lives are not the measure of all things: consider sublime places for a reminder of human insignificance and frailty.

Related Characters: Alain de Botton (speaker), God, Job
Page Number: 171
Explanation and Analysis: