Existence is of little interest save on days when the dust of realities is mingled with magic sand.
Marcel Proust
Life, Magic, Reality, Existence, Imaginative Realities, Surreal Moments
Marcel Proust’s Quotes On Topics
Vice | Progressing Road | Like Morphine | Nostalgic Anchor | Unfulfilled Expectations | Court | Misplaced Trust | Media Critique | Fleeting Impulses | Mental Connection | Outside | Ordinary Connections | Lives | Schools | Flames Mirror | Particular Qualities | Sorrow | Unrealistic Desires | Insincerity Details | Authentic Growth | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“The moments of the past do not remain still; they retain in our memory the motion which drew them towards the future, towards a future which has itself become the past, and draw us on in their train.” Marcel Proust
Past, Memory, Future Motion, Temporal Flow, Nostalgic Transition, Time Perception
Marcel Proust Past, Memory, Future Motion, Temporal Flow, Nostalgic Transition, Time Perception“We only really know what is new, what suddenly introduces to our sensibility a change of tone which strikes us, that for which habit has not yet substituted its pale fac-similes.” Marcel Proust
Novelty, Perception, Sensibility, Change, Habit, Experiential Learning
Marcel Proust Novelty, Perception, Sensibility, Change, Habit, Experiential Learning“A little insomnia is not without its value in making us appreciate sleep, in throwing a ray of light upon that darkness.” Marcel Proust
Insomnia, Sleep, Darkness, Value, Restless Nights, Hidden Appreciation
Marcel Proust Insomnia, Sleep, Darkness, Value, Restless Nights, Hidden Appreciation“An impression is for the writer what an experiment is for the scientist, except that for the scientist the work of the intelligence precedes it, and for the writer it comes afterwards.” Marcel Proust
Impression, Writer, Experiment, Scientist, Creative Comparison, Intellectual Process
Marcel Proust Impression, Writer, Experiment, Scientist, Creative Comparison, Intellectual Process“So long as I know what’s boiling in my pot I don’t bother my head about what’s in other people’s.” Marcel Proust
Personal Focus, Pot Boiling, Self-Centric, Simplicity, Inner World, Contentment
Marcel Proust Personal Focus, Pot Boiling, Self-Centric, Simplicity, Inner World, Contentment“In reality, every reader, while he is reading, is the reader of his own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument, which he offers to the reader to permit him to discern what, without the book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself. The reader’s recognition in his own self of what the book says is the proof of its truth.” Marcel Proust
Reader Reflection, Self Discovery, Truth Recognition, Authorial Perception, Inner Insights, Literary Connection
Marcel Proust Reader Reflection, Self Discovery, Truth Recognition, Authorial Perception, Inner Insights, Literary Connection“We strive all the time to give our life its form, but we do so by copying willy-nilly, like a drawing, the features of the person that we are and not of the person we should like to be.” Marcel Proust
Life, Form, Personal Features, Identity Struggle, Self-Perception, Authentic Growth
Marcel Proust Life, Form, Personal Features, Identity Struggle, Self-Perception, Authentic Growth“The duty and the task of a writer are those of an interpreter.” Marcel Proust
Writer, Duty, Interpretation, Artistic Role, Literature, Purpose
Marcel Proust Writer, Duty, Interpretation, Artistic Role, Literature, Purpose“After a certain age, the more one becomes oneself, the more obvious one’s family traits become.” Marcel Proust
Age, Self, Family Traits, Obvious Characteristics, Generational Reflection, Personal Evolution
Marcel Proust Age, Self, Family Traits, Obvious Characteristics, Generational Reflection, Personal Evolution“Sometimes in this life, under the stress of an exceptional emotion, people do say what they think.” Marcel Proust
Life, Stress, Emotion, Think, Honest Expression, Intense Feeling
Marcel Proust Life, Stress, Emotion, Think, Honest Expression, Intense Feeling“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“Adultery breathes new life into marriages which have been left for dead.” Marcel Proust
Marriage, Adultery, New Life, Faded Relationships, Controversial Dynamics, Relationship Renewal
Marcel Proust Marriage, Adultery, New Life, Faded Relationships, Controversial Dynamics, Relationship Renewal“We love only what we do not wholly possess.” Marcel Proust
Love, Possess, Wholly, Only, Longing Desire, Unattainable Affection
Marcel Proust Love, Possess, Wholly, Only, Longing Desire, Unattainable Affection“When I went to Venice I found that my dream had become—incredibly, but quite simply—my address.” Marcel Proust
Venice, Dream, Address, Travel, Unexpected Joy, Dreamlike Reality
Marcel Proust Venice, Dream, Address, Travel, Unexpected Joy, Dreamlike Reality“People can have many different kinds of pleasure. The real one is that for which they will forsake the others.” Marcel Proust
Pleasure, Real, Others, Forsake, True Joy, Personal Sacrifice
Marcel Proust Pleasure, Real, Others, Forsake, True Joy, Personal Sacrifice“The bonds between ourselves and another person exists only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we want to be duped and which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we dupe other people, we exist alone. Man is the creature who cannot escape from himself, who knows other people only in himself, and when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.” Marcel Proust
Emotional Bonds, Solitude, Memory Fading, Self Reflection, Illusion Of Connection, Emotional Solitude
Marcel Proust Emotional Bonds, Solitude, Memory Fading, Self Reflection, Illusion Of Connection, Emotional Solitude“There is no idea that does not carry in itself a possible refutation, no word that does not imply its opposite.” Marcel Proust
Idea, Refutation, Word Opposite, Dual Meaning, Logical Paradox, Contradictory Nature
Marcel Proust Idea, Refutation, Word Opposite, Dual Meaning, Logical Paradox, Contradictory Nature“It is not only by dint of lying to others, but also of lying to ourselves, that we cease to notice that we are lying.” Marcel Proust
Lying, Self-Deception, Reflection, Truth, Human Nature, Behavior
Marcel Proust Lying, Self-Deception, Reflection, Truth, Human Nature, Behavior