May my life someday be so limpid that the Muses will deign to mirror themselves in it and that we can see the reflections of their smiles and their dances skimming across its surface.
Marcel Proust
Life, Muses, Limpid Reflection, Artistic Inspiration, Beauty, Imagination
Marcel Proust’s Quotes On Topics
Imagery | Old Fresco | Experiential Learning | Faithfulness | Phrase | Individuality | Duty | Radiating Emotion | Life Lessons | Loves Lived | Milieu | Another | Lost Innocence | Sentimentality | Physical Response | Sensory Reserve | Efforts | Crushing Reality | Impressions | Habit Cycle | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“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“People don't know when they are happy. They're never so unhappy as they think they are.” Marcel Proust
Happiness, Perception, Unhappiness, Misery, Self-awareness, Emotional Misconception
Marcel Proust Happiness, Perception, Unhappiness, Misery, Self-awareness, Emotional Misconception“Conversation, which is friendship’s mode of expression, is a superficial digression which gives us nothing worth acquiring. We may talk for a lifetime without doing more than indefinitely repeat the vacuity of a minute.” Marcel Proust
Conversation, Friendship, Expression Mode, Superficial Talk, Empty Words, Social Insight
Marcel Proust Conversation, Friendship, Expression Mode, Superficial Talk, Empty Words, Social Insight“In the human race, the frequency of the virtues that are identical in us all is not more wonderful than the multiplicity of the defects that are peculiar to each one of us. Undoubtedly, it is not common sense that is “the commonest thing in the world”; it is human kindness.” Marcel Proust
Virtues, Defects, Human Kindness, Common Sense, Personal Traits, Shared Humanity
Marcel Proust Virtues, Defects, Human Kindness, Common Sense, Personal Traits, Shared Humanity“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“I do my intellectual work inside myself, and once I am with my fellow creatures it is more or less a matter of indifference to me whether or not they are intelligent as long as they are kind, sincere, etc.” Marcel Proust
Intellectual, Work, Kind Sincere, Social Indifference, Inner Focus, Personal Philosophy
Marcel Proust Intellectual, Work, Kind Sincere, Social Indifference, Inner Focus, Personal Philosophy“How often is not the prospect of future happiness thus sacrificed to one’s impatient insistence upon an immediate gratification.” Marcel Proust
Happiness, Sacrifice, Future Prospects, Impatient Gratification, Emotional Impulses, Long-term Vision
Marcel Proust Happiness, Sacrifice, Future Prospects, Impatient Gratification, Emotional Impulses, Long-term Vision“Le bonheur est dans l’amour un e tat anormal. In love, happiness is abnormal.” Marcel Proust
Love, Happiness, Abnormal State, Romantic Paradox, Emotional Intensity, Unusual Joy
Marcel Proust Love, Happiness, Abnormal State, Romantic Paradox, Emotional Intensity, Unusual Joy“But what revealed to me all of a sudden the Princess’s love was a trifling incident upon which I shall not dwell here, for it forms part of quite another story, in which M. de Charlus allowed a Queen to die rather than miss an appointment with the hairdresser who was to singe his hair for the benefit of an omnibus conductor who filled him with alarm.” Marcel Proust
Love, Trifling Incident, Hidden Affections, Dramatic Irony, Social Eccentricities, Story Intrigue
Marcel Proust Love, Trifling Incident, Hidden Affections, Dramatic Irony, Social Eccentricities, Story Intrigue“Like a fruit hidden among its leaves, which has grown and ripened unobserved by man, until it falls of its own accord, there came upon us one night the kitchen-maid’s confinement.” Marcel Proust
Fruit Hidden, Kitchen Confinement, Natural Growth, Unseen Events, Life Cycle, Sudden Change
Marcel Proust Fruit Hidden, Kitchen Confinement, Natural Growth, Unseen Events, Life Cycle, Sudden Change“In vain the young man gave him details of all his obscenities with his women, M. de Charlus was only struck by how little they amounted to. For that matter that was not only the result of insincerity, for nothing is more limited than vice. In that sense one can really use a common expression and say that one is always turning in the same vicious circle.” Marcel Proust
Vice, Obscenities, Vicious Circle, Limited Nature, Insincerity Details, Moral Reflection
Marcel Proust Vice, Obscenities, Vicious Circle, Limited Nature, Insincerity Details, Moral Reflection“One cannot change, that is to say become a different person, while continuing to acquiesce to the feelings of the person one has ceased to be.” Marcel Proust
Personal Change, Inner Transformation, Self Acceptance, Emotional Growth, Past Self, Identity Shift
Marcel Proust Personal Change, Inner Transformation, Self Acceptance, Emotional Growth, Past Self, Identity Shift“For a man cannot change, that is to say become another person, while he continues to obey the dictates of the self which he has ceased to be.” Marcel Proust
Change, Man, Self, Dictates, Personal Growth, Identity Struggles
Marcel Proust Change, Man, Self, Dictates, Personal Growth, Identity Struggles“It is false to believe that the scale of fears corresponds to that of the dangers which inspire them. One might be frightened of sleeplessness and yet not of a duel, of a rat and not of a lion.” Marcel Proust
Fears, Dangers, Scale Mismatch, False Belief, Fear Paradox, Emotional Logic
Marcel Proust Fears, Dangers, Scale Mismatch, False Belief, Fear Paradox, Emotional Logic“Other people are, as a rule, so immaterial to us that, when we have entrusted to any one of them the power to cause so much suffering or happiness to ourselves, that person seems at once to belong to a different universe, is surrounded with poetry, makes of our lives a vast expanse, quick with sensation, on which that person and ourselves are ever more or less in contact.” Marcel Proust
People, Immateriality, Emotional Power, Poetic Connection, Life Expansion, Sensational Impact
Marcel Proust People, Immateriality, Emotional Power, Poetic Connection, Life Expansion, Sensational Impact“We dream much of a paradise, or rather of a number of successive paradises, but each of them is, long before we die, a paradise lost, in which we should feel ourselves lost too.” Marcel Proust
Paradise, Successive, Dream Reflection, Lost States, Mortal Vision, Nostalgic Longing
Marcel Proust Paradise, Successive, Dream Reflection, Lost States, Mortal Vision, Nostalgic Longing“Everything that seems imperishable tends to extinguishment.” Marcel Proust
Imperishable, Extinguishment, Transient Nature, Mortality Truth, Ephemeral Life, Inevitable Decline
Marcel Proust Imperishable, Extinguishment, Transient Nature, Mortality Truth, Ephemeral Life, Inevitable Decline“In reality, in love there is a permanent suffering which joy neutralizes, renders virtual delays, but which can at any moment become what it would have become long earlier if one had not obtained what one wanted – atrocious.” Marcel Proust
Love, Suffering, Joy Neutralizes, Emotional Delay, Heartache Reality, Lingering Pain
Marcel Proust Love, Suffering, Joy Neutralizes, Emotional Delay, Heartache Reality, Lingering Pain“For the possession of what we love is an even greater joy than love itself.” Marcel Proust
Love, Joy, Fulfillment, Possession, Emotional Attachment, Cherished Feelings
Marcel Proust Love, Joy, Fulfillment, Possession, Emotional Attachment, Cherished Feelings“A little tap on the window pane, as though something had struck it, followed by a plentiful light falling sound, as of grains of sand being sprinkled from a window overhead, gradually spreading, intensifying, acquiring a regular rhythm, becoming fluid, sonorous, musical, immeasurable, universal: it was the rain.” Marcel Proust
Rain, Window, Musical Rhythm, Universal Sound, Natural Beauty, Emotional Connection
Marcel Proust Rain, Window, Musical Rhythm, Universal Sound, Natural Beauty, Emotional Connection