Knowledge of the thing cannot impede it; but at least we have the things we discover, if not in our hands, at least in thought, and there they are at your disposal, which inspires us to the illusory hope of enjoying a kind of dominion over them.
Marcel Proust
Knowledge, Discovery, Illusory Dominion, Thought Power, Mental Possession, Hope’s Reach
Marcel Proust’s Quotes On Topics
Obscenities | Challenge | Learning Time | Eternal Longing | True Ownership | Light Reflection | Word Opposite | Quiet Affection | Dormant | New Lands | Literary Goals | Worthy Existence | Social Boredom | Subjective Reality | Pretexts | Overlapping Worlds | Blossom And Fade | Mental Process | Subjective Image | Old Lives | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“Lying is essential to humanity. It plays as large a part perhaps as the quest for pleasure, and is moreover governed by that quest. One lies in order to protect one’s pleasure, or one’s honour if the disclosure of one’s pleasure runs counter to one’s honour. One lies all one’s life long, even, especially, perhaps only, to those who love one. For they alone make us fear for our pleasure and desire their esteem.” Marcel Proust
Lying, Humanity, Pleasure, Honour, Emotional Mask, Protective Falsehood
Marcel Proust Lying, Humanity, Pleasure, Honour, Emotional Mask, Protective Falsehood“The whole art of living is to use the people who make us suffer simply as steps enabling us to obtain access to their divine form and thus joyfully to people our lives with divinities.” Marcel Proust
Art, Living, Suffering Steps, Divine Form, Joyful Connections, Transcendent Growth
Marcel Proust Art, Living, Suffering Steps, Divine Form, Joyful Connections, Transcendent Growth“What barrier is so insurmountable as silence?” Marcel Proust
Silence, Barrier, Communication, Human Connection, Isolation, Reflection
Marcel Proust Silence, Barrier, Communication, Human Connection, Isolation, Reflection“But since the facts which I should then have recalled would have been prompted only by an exercise of the will, by my intellectual memory, and since the pictures which that kind of memory shews us of the past preserve nothing of the past itself, I should never have had any wish to ponder over this residue of Combray.” Marcel Proust
Facts, Memory, Intellectual Recollection, Past Residue, Willful Recall, Thought Exercise
Marcel Proust Facts, Memory, Intellectual Recollection, Past Residue, Willful Recall, Thought Exercise“The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it; and habit fills up what remains.” Marcel Proust
Time, Passion, Daily Elasticity, Habit Cycle, Emotional Expansion, Life Rhythm
Marcel Proust Time, Passion, Daily Elasticity, Habit Cycle, Emotional Expansion, Life Rhythm“Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have retained of them.” Marcel Proust
Time, People, Retained Image, Memory Persistence, Emotional Impact, Unchanging Perception
Marcel Proust Time, People, Retained Image, Memory Persistence, Emotional Impact, Unchanging Perception“A man of letters, merely by reading a phrase, can estimate exactly the literary merit of its author.” Marcel Proust
Letters, Phrase, Literary Merit, Author Estimate, Reading Insight, Scholarly Judgment
Marcel Proust Letters, Phrase, Literary Merit, Author Estimate, Reading Insight, Scholarly Judgment“We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes.” Marcel Proust
Desire Change, Success Struggles, Emotional Evolution, Limit Reformation, Inner Transformation, Intentional Shift
Marcel Proust Desire Change, Success Struggles, Emotional Evolution, Limit Reformation, Inner Transformation, Intentional Shift“No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me.” Marcel Proust
Palate, Extraordinary Sensation, Liquid Mix, Emotional Shudder, Physical Response, Transformative Moment
Marcel Proust Palate, Extraordinary Sensation, Liquid Mix, Emotional Shudder, Physical Response, Transformative Moment“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“We believe we can change things according to our wishes because that’s the only happy solution we can see. We don’t think of what usually happens and what is also a happy solution; things don’t change, but by and by our wishes change.” Marcel Proust
Wishes, Change, Happy Solution, Evolving Desires, Unfulfilled Expectations, Perception Shift
Marcel Proust Wishes, Change, Happy Solution, Evolving Desires, Unfulfilled Expectations, Perception Shift“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust
Grateful, Happy, Gardeners, Souls, Charming People, Emotional Growth
Marcel Proust Grateful, Happy, Gardeners, Souls, Charming People, Emotional Growth“It is the tragedy of other people that they are to us merely showcases for the very perishable collections of our own mind.” Marcel Proust
Other People’s Tragedy, Perishable Mind, Emotional Perception, Shifting Views, Self Reflection, External Influence
Marcel Proust Other People’s Tragedy, Perishable Mind, Emotional Perception, Shifting Views, Self Reflection, External Influence“My body, still too heavy with sleep to move.” Marcel Proust
Body, Sleep, Heavy State, Rested Stagnation, Morning Fatigue, Physical Lethargy
Marcel Proust Body, Sleep, Heavy State, Rested Stagnation, Morning Fatigue, Physical Lethargy“That girl whom I never saw save dappled with the shadows of their leaves, was to me herself a plant of local growth, only taller than the rest, and one whose structure would enable me to approach more closely than in them to the intimate savour of the land from which she had sprung.” Marcel Proust
Girl, Shadows, Plant Metaphor, Local Growth, Land Savour, Intimate Essence
Marcel Proust Girl, Shadows, Plant Metaphor, Local Growth, Land Savour, Intimate Essence“People claim that we recapture for a moment the self that we were long ago when we enter some house or garden in which we used to live in our youth. But these are most hazardous pilgrimages, which end as often in disappointment as in success. It is in ourselves that we should rather seek to find those fixed places, contemporaneous with different years.” Marcel Proust
Youth, Garden, Hazardous Pilgrimage, Disappointment Success, Self Reflection, Nostalgic Memory
Marcel Proust Youth, Garden, Hazardous Pilgrimage, Disappointment Success, Self Reflection, Nostalgic Memory“Unkind people imagine themselves to be inflicting pain on someone equally unkind.” Marcel Proust
Unkindness, Pain, Emotional Damage, Cyclical Negativity, Social Reflection, Toxic Behavior
Marcel Proust Unkindness, Pain, Emotional Damage, Cyclical Negativity, Social Reflection, Toxic Behavior“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“Desiring a will was not enough. I would have needed precisely what I could not have without willpower: a will.” Marcel Proust
Will, Desire, Willpower Strength, Personal Drive, Internal Motivation, Mental Resolve
Marcel Proust Will, Desire, Willpower Strength, Personal Drive, Internal Motivation, Mental Resolve“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 Sleep Agony, Solitude, Emotional Isolation, Night Silence, Grief Presence, Mental Torture