He imagined himself lying there, unable to sleep, thinking of his mother, separated from her by the unresponsive blankets tucked too tightly round him, feeling the ceaseless thumping of his heart in the silence of the night, the irrevocability of absence, the rigid stillness of repose, the agony of solitude and sleeplessness. If the room was a prison, the bed was a tomb.
Marcel Proust
Sleep Agony, Solitude, Emotional Isolation, Night Silence, Grief Presence, Mental Torture
Marcel Proust’s Quotes On Topics
Thought Alignment | Life Stages | Emotional Insight | Countries | Reader | Reflective Growth | Romantic Admiration | Illusion Of Connection | Crushing Reality | Emotional Attachment | Divine Odors | Swimmer | Evolving Desires | Habitual Nature | God Denial | Lost Potential | Reader Reflection | Memory Development | Material Whole | Musical Rhythm | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“How paradoxical it is to search reality for the pictures that are stored in one’s memory.” Marcel Proust
Memory, Paradoxical Search, Reality Pictures, Mental Storage, Reflection Process, Mind Impressions
Marcel Proust Memory, Paradoxical Search, Reality Pictures, Mental Storage, Reflection Process, Mind Impressions“All the mind’s activity is easy if it is not subjected to reality.” Marcel Proust
Mind, Activity, Reality, Cognitive Ease, Idealized Thinking, Unconstrained Creativity
Marcel Proust Mind, Activity, Reality, Cognitive Ease, Idealized Thinking, Unconstrained Creativity“She’s got feet like boats, whiskers like an American, and her undies are filthy.” Marcel Proust
Feet, Boats, Whiskers American, Undies Filthy, Odd Imagery, Unflattering Description
Marcel Proust Feet, Boats, Whiskers American, Undies Filthy, Odd Imagery, Unflattering Description“We are able to find everything in our memory, which is like a dispensary or chemical laboratory in which chance steers our hand sometimes to a soothing drug and sometimes to a dangerous poison.” Marcel Proust
Memory, Dispensary, Chance Steering, Chemical Analogy, Mental Recall, Cognitive Influence
Marcel Proust Memory, Dispensary, Chance Steering, Chemical Analogy, Mental Recall, Cognitive Influence“Aristocracy is a relative thing. And there are plenty of out-of-the-way places where the son of an upholsterer is the arbiter of fashion and reigns over a court like any young Prince of Wales.” Marcel Proust
Aristocracy, Fashion, Court, Prince, Social Status, Unexpected Power
Marcel Proust Aristocracy, Fashion, Court, Prince, Social Status, Unexpected Power“A book is like a large cemetery upon whose tombs one can no longer read the effaced names. On the other hand, sometimes one remembers well the name, without knowing if anything of the being, whose name it was, survives in these pages.” Marcel Proust
Book, Cemetery, Effaced Names, Remembered Identity, Forgotten Stories, Literary Immortality
Marcel Proust Book, Cemetery, Effaced Names, Remembered Identity, Forgotten Stories, Literary Immortality“Why, when we regain consciousness, is it not an identity other than the one we had previously that is embodied in us? It is not clear what dictates the choice nor why, among the millions of human beings we might be, it is the being we were the day before that we unerringly grasp.” Marcel Proust
Consciousness, Identity, Human Choice, Previous Self, Mental Continuity, Unseen Dictation
Marcel Proust Consciousness, Identity, Human Choice, Previous Self, Mental Continuity, Unseen Dictation“Only by art can we get outside ourselves, instead of seeing only one world, our own, we see it under multiple forms.” Marcel Proust
Art, Outside, World, Forms, Expanding Perspective, Creative Freedom
Marcel Proust Art, Outside, World, Forms, Expanding Perspective, Creative Freedom“Perhaps the immobility of the things that surround us is forced upon them by our conviction that they are themselves, and not anything else, and by the immobility of our conceptions of them.” Marcel Proust
Immobility, Surroundings, Conceptions, Static Perceptions, Mental Constructs, Forced Beliefs
Marcel Proust Immobility, Surroundings, Conceptions, Static Perceptions, Mental Constructs, Forced Beliefs“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“The most familiar precepts are not always the truest.” Marcel Proust
Familiar Precepts, Truth Variance, Knowledge Complexity, Relational Understanding, Social Norms, Critical Reflection
Marcel Proust Familiar Precepts, Truth Variance, Knowledge Complexity, Relational Understanding, Social Norms, Critical Reflection“The particulars of life do not matter to the artist; they merely provide him with the opportunity to lay bare his genius.” Marcel Proust
Life, Artist, Genius, Inspiration, Artistic Expression, Creative Process
Marcel Proust Life, Artist, Genius, Inspiration, Artistic Expression, Creative Process“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“Love is a striking example of how little reality means to us.” Marcel Proust
Love, Reality, Illusion, Emotions, Unrealistic Feelings, Heart’s Perspective
Marcel Proust Love, Reality, Illusion, Emotions, Unrealistic Feelings, Heart’s Perspective“Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.” Marcel Proust
Illness, Pain, Doctor, Human Response, Knowledge, Obedience
Marcel Proust Illness, Pain, Doctor, Human Response, Knowledge, Obedience“There is, following an ample meal, a sort of pause in time, filled with a gentle slackening of thought and energy, when to sit doing nothing gives us a sense of life's richness and a feeling that the least effort would be intolerable. The melancholy we took with us to table has disappeared and, if we think of it at all it is only to smile, as at some black mood now past, its cause having gone. And with the melancholy, all scruple, all remorse departs from us.” Marcel Proust
Contentment, Laziness, Satisfaction, Melancholy, Indulgence, Temporal Perception
Marcel Proust Contentment, Laziness, Satisfaction, Melancholy, Indulgence, Temporal Perception“Knowing does not always allow us to prevent, but at least the things that we know, we hold them, if not in our hands, but at least in our thoughts where we may dispose of them at our whim, which gives us the illusion of power over them.” Marcel Proust
Knowledge, Prevention, Control, Illusion, Power, Thought Manipulation
Marcel Proust Knowledge, Prevention, Control, Illusion, Power, Thought Manipulation“In reality, every reader is, while reading, the reader of his own self.” Marcel Proust
Reader, Reality, Self, Reading, Personal Reflection, Literature’s Power
Marcel Proust Reader, Reality, Self, Reading, Personal Reflection, Literature’s Power“Repeatedly, I dare say, when pretty girls went by, I had promised myself that I would see them again. As a rule, people do not appear a second time; moreover our memory, which speedily forgets their existence, would find it difficult to recall their appearance; our eyes would not recognise them, perhaps, and in the meantime we have seen new girls go by, whom we shall not see again either.” Marcel Proust
Lost Encounters, Memory Fade, Repetitive Promises, Unrecognizable Faces, Emotional Forgetfulness, Momentary Connections
Marcel Proust Lost Encounters, Memory Fade, Repetitive Promises, Unrecognizable Faces, Emotional Forgetfulness, Momentary Connections