My dears, laugh at me if you like; it is not conventionally beautiful, but there is something in its quaint old face which pleases me. If it could play the piano, I am sure it would really play.
Marcel Proust
Quaint Face, Piano, Unconventional Beauty, Personal Pleasures, Sentimental Value, Unique Appeal
Marcel Proust’s Quotes On Topics
Risk Timing | Passion Influence | Book | Inner Perception | Memory Fading | Fear | Scale Mismatch | Real | Life Realization | Danger | Great Art | Inferior Relations | Soul | Unhappy | Conversational Barrier | Reciprocal Affection | Refutation | Memory Persistence | Wars | Romantic Vision | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“When the successive hours of our life are thus displayed against too widely dissimilar backgrounds, we find that we give away too much of ourselves to all sorts of people who next day will not interest us in the least.” Marcel Proust
Life, Dissimilar Backgrounds, Reflection, Self-Giving, Time, Interaction
Marcel Proust Life, Dissimilar Backgrounds, Reflection, Self-Giving, Time, Interaction“Sometimes it would even happen that this precocious hour would sound two strokes more than the last; there must then have been an hour which I had not heard strike; something which had taken place had not taken place for me; the fascination of my book, a magic as potent as the deepest slumber, had stopped my enchanted ears and had obliterated the sound of that golden bell from the azure surface of the enveloping silence.” Marcel Proust
Hour, Strokes, Golden Bell, Fascinating Book, Deep Slumber, Lost Time
Marcel Proust Hour, Strokes, Golden Bell, Fascinating Book, Deep Slumber, Lost Time“It is always during a passing state of mind that we make lasting resolutions.” Marcel Proust
Passing Mind, Lasting Resolutions, Emotional Decisions, Momentary Reflection, Instinctive Choices, Inner Conflicts
Marcel Proust Passing Mind, Lasting Resolutions, Emotional Decisions, Momentary Reflection, Instinctive Choices, Inner Conflicts“A well-read man will yawn with boredom when one speaks to him of a new “good book,” as he imagines a sort of composite of all the good books he has read, whereas a good book is something special, unforeseeable, made up not of the sum of all previous masterpieces but of something which the most thorough assimilation of every one of them would not enable him to discover, since it exists not in their sum but beyond it.” Marcel Proust
Books, Reading, Masterpieces, Boredom, Literary Value, Unique Insights
Marcel Proust Books, Reading, Masterpieces, Boredom, Literary Value, Unique Insights“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“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“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
Discovery, New Eyes, Changed Perspectives, Inner Journey, Transformative Vision, Perception Shift
Marcel Proust Discovery, New Eyes, Changed Perspectives, Inner Journey, Transformative Vision, Perception Shift“But sometimes illumination comes to our rescue at the very moment when all seems lost; we have knocked at every door and they open on nothing until, at last, we stumble unconsciously against the only one through which we can enter the kingdom we have sought in vain a hundred years – and it opens.” Marcel Proust
Illumination, Rescue, Unconscious Discovery, Kingdom Entry, Last Hope, Hidden Opportunity
Marcel Proust Illumination, Rescue, Unconscious Discovery, Kingdom Entry, Last Hope, Hidden Opportunity“Our shadows, now parallel, now close together and joined, traced an exquisite pattern at our feet.” Marcel Proust
Shadows, Pattern, Exquisite Bond, Imagery, Reflection, Togetherness
Marcel Proust Shadows, Pattern, Exquisite Bond, Imagery, Reflection, Togetherness“That translucent alabaster of our memories.” Marcel Proust
Alabaster, Memories, Translucent, Our, Fragile Nostalgia, Gentle Reflection
Marcel Proust Alabaster, Memories, Translucent, Our, Fragile Nostalgia, Gentle Reflection“He had so long since ceased to direct his life toward any ideal goal, and had confined himself to the pursuit of quotidian satisfactions, that he had come to believe, though without ever formally stating his belief even to himself that he would remain all his life in that condition, which only death could alter.” Marcel Proust
Satisfaction, Quotidian Life, Ideal Goal, Resigned Belief, Unchanging Condition, Mortal Shift
Marcel Proust Satisfaction, Quotidian Life, Ideal Goal, Resigned Belief, Unchanging Condition, Mortal Shift“I had indeed suffered successively through Gilberte, through Mme de Guermantes, through Albertine. Successively also I had forgotten them and only my love, dedicated at different times to different beings, had lasted.” Marcel Proust
Love, Successive, Forgotten Dedication, Romantic Evolution, Emotional Resilience, Enduring Affection
Marcel Proust Love, Successive, Forgotten Dedication, Romantic Evolution, Emotional Resilience, Enduring Affection“The character we exhibit in the latter half of our life need not necessarily be, though it often is, our original character, developed further, dried up, exaggerated, or diminished. It can be its exact opposite, like a suit worn inside out.” Marcel Proust
Character, Evolution, Life Stages, Inner Opposite, Suit Metaphor, Identity Shift
Marcel Proust Character, Evolution, Life Stages, Inner Opposite, Suit Metaphor, Identity Shift“And in the same way, again, are not the thoughts of men and women in the agony of death often turned towards the practical, painful, obscure, internal, intestinal aspect, towards that ‘seamy side’ of death which is, as it happens, the side that death actually presents to them and forces them to feel, a side which far more closely resembles a crushing burden, a difficulty in breathing, a destroying thirst, than the abstract idea to which we are accustomed to give the name of Death?” Marcel Proust
Thoughts, Death, Painful, Burden, Crushing Reality, Final Agony
Marcel Proust Thoughts, Death, Painful, Burden, Crushing Reality, Final Agony“An artist has no need to express his mind directly in his work for it to express the quality of that mind; it has indeed been said that the highest praise of God consists in the denial of Him by the atheist, who finds creation so perfect that it can dispense with a creator.” Marcel Proust
Artist, Mind, Work Expression, God Denial, Creation Perfection, Indirect Praise
Marcel Proust Artist, Mind, Work Expression, God Denial, Creation Perfection, Indirect Praise“The real stars of society are tired of appearing there. He who is curious to gaze at them must often migrate to another hemisphere, where they are more or less alone.” Marcel Proust
Stars, Society, Appearing Tired, Hemisphere Migration, Social Fame, Solitary Retreat
Marcel Proust Stars, Society, Appearing Tired, Hemisphere Migration, Social Fame, Solitary Retreat“All the great writers are like that: the beauty of their sentences, like the beauty of a woman one has not yet met, is unforeseeable.” Marcel Proust
Writers, Sentences, Beauty, Woman, Unseen Elegance, Unpredictable Art
Marcel Proust Writers, Sentences, Beauty, Woman, Unseen Elegance, Unpredictable Art“We feel in one world, we think and name in another. Between the two we can set up a system of references, but we cannot fill in the gap.” Marcel Proust
World, Gap, Thought System, Emotional Reference, Mental Divide, Human Duality
Marcel Proust World, Gap, Thought System, Emotional Reference, Mental Divide, Human Duality“May you always see a blue sky overhead, my young friend; and then, even when the time comes, as it has come for me now, when the woods are black, when night is fast falling, you will be able to console yourself, as I do, by looking up at the sky.” Marcel Proust
Hope, Nature, Comfort, Sky, Dark Times, Emotional Strength
Marcel Proust Hope, Nature, Comfort, Sky, Dark Times, Emotional Strength