For every death is a simplification of existence for the others, removes the necessity to show gratitude, the obligation to pay visits.
Marcel Proust
Death, Existence, Simplification Gratitude, Obligatory Visits, Life Impact, Loss Perspective
Marcel Proust’s Quotes On Topics
Transient Nature | Transformative Perception | Chemical Analogy | Happy | Emotional Guard | Short Duration | Communication Barrier | Obligatory Visits | Garden | Different Beginnings | Gradual Thoughts | Literature | Individual Understanding | Stress | Visual Art | Open Sky | Fulfilled | Mysteries | Lost | Life Stages | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“What a profound significance small things assume when the woman we love conceals them from us.” Marcel Proust
Significance, Small, Love, Conceals, Emotional Weight, Hidden Details
Marcel Proust Significance, Small, Love, Conceals, Emotional Weight, Hidden Details“Every reader finds himself. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it possible for the reader to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself.” Marcel Proust
Reader, Writer, Optical Instrument, Personal Insight, Literary Discovery, Reflective Connection
Marcel Proust Reader, Writer, Optical Instrument, Personal Insight, Literary Discovery, Reflective Connection“And yet one did not find in the speech of Bergotte a certain luminosity which in his books, as in those of some other writers, often modified in the written phrase the appearance of its words. This was doubtless because that light issues from so profound a depth that its rays do not penetrate to our spoken words in the hours in which, thrown open to others by the act of conversation, we are to a certain extent closed against ourselves.” Marcel Proust
Luminosity, Speech, Profound Depth, Conversational Barrier, Literary Light, Spoken Words
Marcel Proust Luminosity, Speech, Profound Depth, Conversational Barrier, Literary Light, Spoken Words“We believe that we may change things around us to suit our desires, we believe this because otherwise we can see no acceptable solution. We do not think of the solution which occurs most frequently and which is also acceptable: when we do not manage to change things to suit our desires, but our desires gradually change. We become indifferent to a situation which we had hoped to change when we found it unbearable.” Marcel Proust
Change, Desires, Indifferent, Solution, Gradual Acceptance, Emotional Evolution
Marcel Proust Change, Desires, Indifferent, Solution, Gradual Acceptance, Emotional Evolution“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“These were happy, cheerful moments, innocent in appearance but hiding the growing possibility of disaster: this is what makes the life of lovers the most unpredictable of all, a life in which it can rain sulphur and pitch a moment after the sunniest spell and where, without having the courage to learn from our misfortunes, we immediately start building again on the slopes of the crater which can only spew out catastrophe.” Marcel Proust
Love, Disaster, Moments, Life, Unpredictable Romance, Emotional Extremes
Marcel Proust Love, Disaster, Moments, Life, Unpredictable Romance, Emotional Extremes“But old age, to begin with, has something in common with death. Some face it with indifference, not because they have more courage than others, but because they have less imagination.” Marcel Proust
Old Age, Death, Indifference, Human Condition, Imagination, Reflection
Marcel Proust Old Age, Death, Indifference, Human Condition, Imagination, Reflection“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“To have a kind heart is everything.” Marcel Proust
Kindness, Heart, True Virtue, Inner Goodness, Life Essence, Pure Intent
Marcel Proust Kindness, Heart, True Virtue, Inner Goodness, Life Essence, Pure Intent“The humanist, who read too much, ate too much. He quoted and burped, and these two complaints were equally repugnant to his neighbor, a self-made aristocrat, Madame Lenoir.” Marcel Proust
Humanist, Aristocrat, Excess Reading, Intellectual Vanity, Neighborly Disdain, Social Irony
Marcel Proust Humanist, Aristocrat, Excess Reading, Intellectual Vanity, Neighborly Disdain, Social Irony“But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.” Marcel Proust
Memory, Sensory Connection, Nostalgia, Endurance, Fragile Persistence, Faithful Souls
Marcel Proust Memory, Sensory Connection, Nostalgia, Endurance, Fragile Persistence, Faithful Souls“From the pavement, I could see the window of Albertine’s room, that window, formerly quite black, at night, when she was not staying in the house, which the electric light inside, dissected by the slats of the shutters, striped from top to bottom with parallel bars of gold.” Marcel Proust
Pavement, Window, Night, Light, Visual Detail, Parallel Bars
Marcel Proust Pavement, Window, Night, Light, Visual Detail, Parallel Bars“If the theater is the refuge of the conversationalist whose friend is mute and whose mistress is insipid, then conversation, even the most exquisite, is the pleasure of men without imagination.” Marcel Proust
Theater, Conversation, Imagination Gap, Conversational Refuge, Creative Void, Social Pleasure
Marcel Proust Theater, Conversation, Imagination Gap, Conversational Refuge, Creative Void, Social Pleasure“If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.” Marcel Proust
Dreaming, Danger, Constant Vision, Imaginative Cure, Mental Freedom, Endless Ambition
Marcel Proust Dreaming, Danger, Constant Vision, Imaginative Cure, Mental Freedom, Endless Ambition“It was fortunate that I had not already yielded to the temptation to break with Albertine; the tedium of having to rejoin her presently, when I went home, was a trifling matter compared with the anxiety that I should have felt if the separation had occurred when I still had a doubt about her and before I had had time to grow indifferent to her.” Marcel Proust
Temptation, Separation, Emotional Tedium, Love Anxiety, Relationship Doubts, Growing Indifference
Marcel Proust Temptation, Separation, Emotional Tedium, Love Anxiety, Relationship Doubts, Growing Indifference“The time at our disposal each day is elastic; the passions we feel dilate it, those that inspire us shrink it, and habit fills it.” Marcel Proust
Time, Elasticity, Passion Influence, Daily Rhythms, Emotional Effect, Habitual Patterns
Marcel Proust Time, Elasticity, Passion Influence, Daily Rhythms, Emotional Effect, Habitual Patterns“For every sin there is forgiveness, and especially for the sins of youth.” Marcel Proust
Sin, Forgiveness, Youth, Especially, Redemption Path, Youthful Errors
Marcel Proust Sin, Forgiveness, Youth, Especially, Redemption Path, Youthful Errors“The features of our face are hardly more than gestures which force of habit made permanent. Nature, like the destruction of Pompeii, like the metamorphosis of a nymph into a tree, has arrested us in an accustomed movement.” Marcel Proust
Face, Features, Permanent Gestures, Habitual Nature, Frozen Movements, Symbolic Transformation
Marcel Proust Face, Features, Permanent Gestures, Habitual Nature, Frozen Movements, Symbolic Transformation“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“It is the same in life: the heart changes, and that is our worst misfortune, but we learn of it only from reading or by imagination, for in reality its alteration, like that of certain natural phenomena, is so gradual that even if we are able to distinguish successively each of its different states, we are still spared the actual sensation of change.” Marcel Proust
Life, Heart, Changes, Imagination, Gradual Alteration, Unfelt Transformation
Marcel Proust Life, Heart, Changes, Imagination, Gradual Alteration, Unfelt Transformation