The Art of Travel
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9
Themes
All Themes The Familiar and the Foreign Expectations vs. Reality Art, Travel, and the Search for Happiness The Receptive Self
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Alain de Botton M. Duc des Esseintes Charles Baudelaire  Edward Hopper Gustave Flaubert Alexander von Humboldt William Wordsworth Edmund Burke God Job Vincent van Gogh John Ruskin Xavier de Maistre Friedrich Nietzsche Blaise Pascal
Terms
All Terms Traveling Places The Orient The Exotic Spots of Time The Sublime Word-Painting Aesthetic Traveling Mind-Set
Symbols
All Symbols Clouds
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The Art of Travel

by

Alain De Botton
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Xavier de Maistre Character Analysis

A 19th-century French aristocrat, military man, and writer whose book Journey around My Bedroom Alain de Botton analyzes in his final essay. De Maistre did travel extensively for his military duties, but de Botton thinks that Journey around My Bedroom offers a promising alternative theory of travel: it is more about a traveling mind-set than a destination, and people can undertake satisfying voyages in the places they already call home. While “traveling” in his pajamas, de Maistre notes the beauty of his furniture before losing focus and daydreaming about his dog and crush; de Botton follows his lead by taking a walk around his neighborhood of Hammersmith with an eye to the area’s beauty rather than simply an immediate practical goal (usually, getting to the train station).

Xavier de Maistre Quotes in The Art of Travel

The The Art of Travel quotes below are all either spoken by Xavier de Maistre or refer to Xavier de Maistre. 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 9 Quotes

“The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room”—Pascal, Pensées, 136.

Related Characters: Blaise Pascal (speaker), Alain de Botton , Xavier de Maistre
The Familiar and the Foreign Theme Icon
Expectations vs. Reality Theme Icon
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:

In an autobiographical note written in 1801 in South America, Alexander von Humboldt specified his motive for traveling: “I was spurred on by an uncertain longing to be transported from a boring daily life to a marvellous world.” It was this very dichotomy, “boring daily life” pitted against “marvellous world,” that de Maistre had tried to redraw with greater subtlety.

1111

Related Characters: Alain de Botton (speaker), Alexander von Humboldt, Xavier de Maistre
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis:
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Xavier de Maistre Quotes in The Art of Travel

The The Art of Travel quotes below are all either spoken by Xavier de Maistre or refer to Xavier de Maistre. 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 9 Quotes

“The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room”—Pascal, Pensées, 136.

Related Characters: Blaise Pascal (speaker), Alain de Botton , Xavier de Maistre
The Familiar and the Foreign Theme Icon
Expectations vs. Reality Theme Icon
Page Number: 239
Explanation and Analysis:

In an autobiographical note written in 1801 in South America, Alexander von Humboldt specified his motive for traveling: “I was spurred on by an uncertain longing to be transported from a boring daily life to a marvellous world.” It was this very dichotomy, “boring daily life” pitted against “marvellous world,” that de Maistre had tried to redraw with greater subtlety.

1111

Related Characters: Alain de Botton (speaker), Alexander von Humboldt, Xavier de Maistre
Page Number: 248
Explanation and Analysis:
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