After the suicide of my thoughts, they admired my intelligence; they doted on my mind. My parched imagination, my dried-up sensitivity were enough for the people who were the thirstiest for an intellectual life – their thirst being as artificial and mendacious as the source from which they believed they were quenching it!
Marcel Proust
Thoughts, Intelligence, Imagination, Intellectual Thirst, False Appreciation, Mental Fatigue
Marcel Proust’s Quotes On Topics
Story Intrigue | Personal Letdown | Lives | Details | Younger | Desire | Contrast Force | Creative Impact | Altruism | True Immortality | Emotional Transition | Striking Presence | Possessing | Anticipation | Universal Sound | Childhood Loss | Sun | Pure Intuition | Scientist | Social Fame | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“In the end they come to fill out so completely the curve of his cheeks, to follow so exactly the line of his nose, they blend so harmoniously in the sound of his voice that these seem to be no more than a transparent envelope, so that each time we see the face or hear the voice it is our own ideas of him which we recognise and to which we listen. And.” Marcel Proust
Emotional Projection, Identity Blur, Sensory Memory, Conceptual Connection, Perceived Reality, Personal Reflection
Marcel Proust Emotional Projection, Identity Blur, Sensory Memory, Conceptual Connection, Perceived Reality, Personal Reflection“The sensitiveness claimed by neurotic is matched by their egotism: they cannot abide the flaunting by others of the sufferings to which they pay an even increasing amount of attention in themselves.” Marcel Proust
Sensitiveness, Egotism, Neurotic Traits, Self-Reflection, Emotional Bias, Observed Suffering
Marcel Proust Sensitiveness, Egotism, Neurotic Traits, Self-Reflection, Emotional Bias, Observed Suffering“The highest praise of God consists in the denial of him by the atheist who finds creation so perfect that it can dispense with a creator.” Marcel Proust
God, Atheism, Creation, Perfection, Denial, Divine Paradox
Marcel Proust God, Atheism, Creation, Perfection, Denial, Divine Paradox“Life is like that little sweetheart. We dream it and we love it in dreaming it. We should not try to live it: otherwise, like that little boy, we will plunge into stupidity, though not at one swoop, for in life everything degenerates by imperceptible nuances. At the end of ten years we no longer recognize our dreams; we deny them, we live, like a cow, for the grass we are grazing on at the moment. And who knows if our wedding with death might not lead to our conscious immortality?” Marcel Proust
Life, Dreams, Degeneration Nuances, Conscious Immortality, Lost Aspirations, Living Moments
Marcel Proust Life, Dreams, Degeneration Nuances, Conscious Immortality, Lost Aspirations, Living Moments“When Jean and his mother left Etreuilles, Monsieur Sureau had gathered for them great boxfuls of hawthorn and of snowballs which Madame Santeuil had not the courage to refuse. But, as soon as Jean’s uncle had gone home, she threw them away, saying that they already had more than enough in the way of luggage. And then Jean cried because he had been separated from the darling creatures which he would have liked to take with him to Paris, and because of his mother’s naughtiness.” Marcel Proust
Jean, Mother, Hawthorn Snowballs, Emotional Separation, Childhood Loss, Maternal Actions
Marcel Proust Jean, Mother, Hawthorn Snowballs, Emotional Separation, Childhood Loss, Maternal Actions“Those exterminating angels known as Will and Thought were no longer present to drive the evil spirits of his senses and the vile emanations of his memory back into the darkness.” Marcel Proust
Will, Thought, Evil Spirits, Memory Darkness, Mental Struggle, Emotional Angels
Marcel Proust Will, Thought, Evil Spirits, Memory Darkness, Mental Struggle, Emotional Angels“For often I have wished to see a person again without realising that it was simply because that person recalled to me a hedge of hawthorns in blossom, and I have been led to believe, and to make someone else believe, in a renewal of affection, by what was no more than an inclination to travel.” Marcel Proust
Person, Affection, Hedge Of Hawthorns, Nostalgic Recall, Misplaced Feelings, Emotional Travel
Marcel Proust Person, Affection, Hedge Of Hawthorns, Nostalgic Recall, Misplaced Feelings, Emotional Travel“One can seldom admire what one loves.” Marcel Proust
Love, Admiration, Rare Feelings, Reflection, Emotion, Contradiction
Marcel Proust Love, Admiration, Rare Feelings, Reflection, Emotion, Contradiction“No exile at the South Pole or on the summit of Mont Blanc separates us more effectively from others than the practice of a hidden vice.” Marcel Proust
Vice, Isolation, Separation, Secrecy, Behavior, Social Disconnection
Marcel Proust Vice, Isolation, Separation, Secrecy, Behavior, Social Disconnection“Lies are essential to humanity. They are perhaps as important as the pursuit of pleasure and moreover are dictated by that pursuit.” Marcel Proust
Lies, Humanity, Pursuit Pleasure, Essential Lies, Truth Contrast, Human Nature
Marcel Proust Lies, Humanity, Pursuit Pleasure, Essential Lies, Truth Contrast, Human Nature“To such beings, such fugitive beings, their own nature and our anxiety fasten wings. And even when they are with us the look in their eyes seems to warn us that they are about to take flight. The proof of this beauty itself, that wings add is that often, for us, the same person is alternately winged and wingless.” Marcel Proust
Beings, Wings, Eyes, Flight, Fleeting Beauty, Duality Nature
Marcel Proust Beings, Wings, Eyes, Flight, Fleeting Beauty, Duality Nature“I feel infinite sadness at seeing how few people are genuinely kind.” Marcel Proust
Kindness, Infinite Sadness, Emotional Loss, Human Connection, Genuine Souls, Societal Reflection
Marcel Proust Kindness, Infinite Sadness, Emotional Loss, Human Connection, Genuine Souls, Societal Reflection“An artist has no need to express his mind directly in his work for it to express the quality of that mind; it has indeed been said that the highest praise of God consists in the denial of Him by the atheist, who finds creation so perfect that it can dispense with a creator.” Marcel Proust
Artist, Mind, Work Expression, God Denial, Creation Perfection, Indirect Praise
Marcel Proust Artist, Mind, Work Expression, God Denial, Creation Perfection, Indirect Praise“Real life, life finally uncovered and clarified, the only life in consequence lived to the full, is literature. Life in this sense dwells within all ordinary people as much as the artist. But they do not see it because they are not trying to shed light on it.” Marcel Proust
Literature, Real Life, Clarified Existence, Ordinary People, Light Reflection, Artistic Life
Marcel Proust Literature, Real Life, Clarified Existence, Ordinary People, Light Reflection, Artistic Life“For we are not as faithful to the being we have most loved as we are to ourselves and sooner or later we forget her – since that is one of our characteristics – so as to start loving another.” Marcel Proust
Love, Faithfulness, Forgetfulness, Emotional Transition, Self-Priority, Love Change
Marcel Proust Love, Faithfulness, Forgetfulness, Emotional Transition, Self-Priority, Love Change“For Swann was finding in things once more, since he had fallen in love, the charm that he had found when, in his adolescence, he had fancied himself an artist; with this difference, that what charm lay in them now was conferred by Odette alone.” Marcel Proust
Love, Charm, Adolescence, Perception, Transformation, Personal Significance
Marcel Proust Love, Charm, Adolescence, Perception, Transformation, Personal Significance“Our passions shape our books, repose writes them in the intervals.” Marcel Proust
Passions, Books, Repose, Writes, Creative Process, Interval Insight
Marcel Proust Passions, Books, Repose, Writes, Creative Process, Interval Insight“Pleasures are like photographs: in the presence of the person we love, we take only negatives, which we develop later, at home, when we have at our disposal once more our inner dark room, the door of which it is strictly forbidden to open while others are present.” Marcel Proust
Pleasures, Photographs, Inner Darkroom, Love Absence, Memory Development, Forbidden Reflections
Marcel Proust Pleasures, Photographs, Inner Darkroom, Love Absence, Memory Development, Forbidden Reflections“To think that I wasted years of my life, that I wanted to die, that I felt my deepest love, for a woman who did not appeal to me, who was not my type!” Marcel Proust
Wasted, Years, Die, Love, Emotional Misfit, Regretted Affection
Marcel Proust Wasted, Years, Die, Love, Emotional Misfit, Regretted Affection“All the objects which he contemplated with as much curiosity and admiration as gratitude, for if, in absorbing his dreams, they had delivered him from an obsession, they themselves were, in turn, enriched by the absorption; they shewed him the palpable realisation of his fancies, and they interested his mind; they took shape and grew solid before his eyes, and at the same time they soothed his troubled heart.” Marcel Proust
Dreams, Absorption, Realisation Fancies, Troubled Heart, Curiosity Admiration, Palpable Vision
Marcel Proust Dreams, Absorption, Realisation Fancies, Troubled Heart, Curiosity Admiration, Palpable Vision