Alain De Botton

You know, this is a massive problem in relationships because, you know,

You know, we're not very good at holding on to a sense of appreciation of something that's always around.

You know, if you live in a beautiful city, after a few years, you forget that it even exists.

You fail to appreciate the people around you that are special, etc.

And it's often only the thought of a rupture, of an end.

that can reawaken.

So suddenly somebody's been diagnosed with something or somebody's got to leave and suddenly you remember, my goodness, I prize them so much.

But, you know, it would be so nice if we remembered the specialness of the people who are special to us before, you know, the diagnosis.

And I think this to some extent is what art does, you know, works of art.

are very often about, they're kind of attempting to reignite appreciation.

It's like Monet shows you a field of poppies.

You'd kind of forgotten all about poppies in springtime.

You hadn't really thought about it in a long while.

And suddenly you look at this canvas and you think, oh my God.

Oh, it's fabulous.

How have I lived without this thing?

And in a way you can do that with your partner too.

You need the Monet of the bedrooms.

Look, I think there's an awful lot of kind of censorship and censorious behavior around adultery.

I don't think it's a great thing, but I think it's something that needs to be understood.