阿蘭·德波頓 (Alain de Botton1969- ）:
《身份的焦慮 Status anxiety》,2004
解決方案 五：波西米亞

資產階級以商業成功和公眾聲譽為基礎來確定地位，而對波西米亞人來說，最重要的是對更廣闊世界的開放態度和對藝術這種主要情感寶庫的熱愛，無論是從創作還是欣賞的角度。

波希米亞價值體系的殉道者是那些犧牲了穩定的工作和社會的尊重，以換取寫作、繪畫或創作音樂的機會，獻身於旅行或與朋友和家人共度時光的人。

波西米亞人可能由於自己的承諾而缺乏外表體面的裝備，甚至可能缺乏舉止，但他們自己卻聲稱，因其良好的道德意識以及接受和表達的能力而仍然值得獲得最高榮譽。

許多波希米亞人為了他們不切實際的信仰而願意承受痛苦，甚至挨餓。十九世紀的肖像畫經常描繪他們懶散地坐在公寓大樓骯髒的閣樓裡的椅子上，面容憔悴，精疲力竭。他們的眼睛裡也許閃爍著茫然的光芒，他們的書架上也許擺著一個骷髏，他們臉上的表情也許會嚇到工廠領班或辦公室經理——這表明資產階級所痴迷的膚淺、功利的思想沒有佔據波西米亞人的靈魂。

Alain de Botton: STATUS ANXIETY
SOLUTIONS V :BOHEMIA

Whereas the bourgeoisie accorded status on the basis of commercial success and public reputation, for bohemians what mattered above all else, and certainly above the ability to pay for an elegant home or chic clothes, was openness to the wider world and devotion, whether on the creative or the appreciative end, to the primary repository of feeling that was art.

The martyrs of the bohemian value system were those who sacrificed the security of a regular job and the esteem of society for the opportunity to write, paint or make music, to dedicate themselves to travel or to spend time with their friends and families.

They might, because of their commitments, lack the accoutrements, and perhaps even the manners, of outward decency, yet they were still, the bohemians themselves averred, deserving of the highest honour for their ethical good sense and their powers of receptivity and expression.

Many bohemians were prepared to suffer or even starve for their impractical beliefs. Nineteenth-century portraits often depicted them slouched on chairs in the dirty attic rooms of apartment blocks, their countenance gaunt and exhausted. There might be a faraway glint in their eyes and a skull on their bookshelves, and the look on their face might be such as to frighten a factory foreman or office manager-a sign that the bohemian soul was not taken up by the shallow, utilitarian concerns that so obsessed the bourgeoisie.