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’s Quotes On Topics
Emotional Clarity | Emotional Evolution | Octopus Analogy | Personal Traits | Meaning | Forgotten Reality | Emotional Magnetism | Observed Suffering | Politics | Swimming | Expanding Perspective | Mortal Reflection | Fashionable | Public Fear | Egotistical Passion | Memory Impressions | Sleep Awareness | Dual Perspectives | Self Discovery | New View | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“It is said that nothing in our lives is ever lost, that nothing can prevent its having been. That is why, so very often the weight of the past lies ineluctably upon the present. But that is why it is so real in memory, so wholly itself, so far beyond replacement.” Marcel Proust
Nothing, Lives, Weight Past, Memory Real, Present Impact, Eternal Significance
Marcel Proust Nothing, Lives, Weight Past, Memory Real, Present Impact, Eternal Significance“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“A fashionable milieu is one in which each person’s opinion is made up of everyone else’s opinions. Does each opinion run counter to everyone else’s? Then it is a literary milieu.” Marcel Proust
Fashionable, Milieu, Opinions Counter, Literary Circles, Social Dynamics, Collective Thought
Marcel Proust Fashionable, Milieu, Opinions Counter, Literary Circles, Social Dynamics, Collective Thought“The moments of the past do not remain still; they retain in our memory the motion which drew them towards the future, towards a future which has itself become the past, and draw us on in their train.” Marcel Proust
Past, Memory, Future Motion, Temporal Flow, Nostalgic Transition, Time Perception
Marcel Proust Past, Memory, Future Motion, Temporal Flow, Nostalgic Transition, Time Perception“But sometimes the future is latent in us without our knowing it, and our supposedly lying words foreshadow an imminent reality.” Marcel Proust
Future, Latent, Imminent Reality, Subconscious Insights, Predictive Actions, Hidden Awareness
Marcel Proust Future, Latent, Imminent Reality, Subconscious Insights, Predictive Actions, Hidden Awareness“Discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.” Marcel Proust
Discovery, Eyes, New Lands, Seeing Differently, Perception Shift, Exploration Insight
Marcel Proust Discovery, Eyes, New Lands, Seeing Differently, Perception Shift, Exploration Insight“Like a blood-red sky that warns the passerby, “There is a fire over there,” certain blazing looks often reveal passions that they serve merely to reflect. They are flames in the mirror.” Marcel Proust
Passions, Blazing Looks, Blood-red Sky, Flames Mirror, Subtle Warning, Revealed Fire
Marcel Proust Passions, Blazing Looks, Blood-red Sky, Flames Mirror, Subtle Warning, Revealed Fire“The lives that you admire, the attitudes that seem noble to you, have not been shaped by a paterfamilias or a schoolmaster, they have sprung from very different beginnings, having been influenced by evil or commonplace that prevailed round them. They represent a struggle and a victory.” Marcel Proust
Lives, Noble, Different Beginnings, Struggle Victory, Admired Influences, Personal Triumph
Marcel Proust Lives, Noble, Different Beginnings, Struggle Victory, Admired Influences, Personal Triumph“We would like the truth to be revealed to us by novel signs, not by a sentence, a sentence similar to those which we have constantly repeated to ourselves. The habit of thinking prevents us at times from experiencing reality, immunises us against it, makes it seem no more than another thought. There is no idea that does not carry in itself its possible refutation, no word that does not imply its opposite.” Marcel Proust
Truth, Reality, Opposite Ideas, Thought Habits, Philosophy, Duality
Marcel Proust Truth, Reality, Opposite Ideas, Thought Habits, Philosophy, Duality“She was capable of causing me pain, but no longer any joy. Pain alone kept my wearisome attachment alive.” Marcel Proust
Pain, Joy, Wearisome, Attachment, Lingering Love, One-Sided Affection
Marcel Proust Pain, Joy, Wearisome, Attachment, Lingering Love, One-Sided Affection“Like everybody who is not in love, he thought one chose the person to be loved after endless deliberations and on the basis of particular qualities or advantages.” Marcel Proust
Love, Deliberations, Particular Qualities, Choice Basis, Not In Love, Romantic Perception
Marcel Proust Love, Deliberations, Particular Qualities, Choice Basis, Not In Love, Romantic Perception“The great quality of true art is that it rediscovers, grasps and reveals to us that reality far from where we live, from which we get farther and farther away as the conventional knowledge we substitute for it becomes thicker and more impermeable.” Marcel Proust
Art, Reality, Knowledge, Impermeable, Rediscovery Truth, Artistic Revelation
Marcel Proust Art, Reality, Knowledge, Impermeable, Rediscovery Truth, Artistic Revelation“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“Women who are to some extent resistant, whom one cannot possess at once, whom one does not even know at first whether one will ever possess, are the only interesting ones.” Marcel Proust
Women, Resistance, Interesting Ones, Elusive Nature, Possession Doubt, Fascinating Complexity
Marcel Proust Women, Resistance, Interesting Ones, Elusive Nature, Possession Doubt, Fascinating Complexity“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“The disgust of distinguished people for snobs who want to force themselves upon them, the virile man has for the invert, the woman for every man who is too much in love with her.” Marcel Proust
Disgust, Distinction, Forced Attention, Social Dynamics, Emotional Reactions, Personal Boundaries
Marcel Proust Disgust, Distinction, Forced Attention, Social Dynamics, Emotional Reactions, Personal Boundaries“Our worst fears, like our greatest hopes, are not outside our powers, and we can come in the end to triumph over the former and to achieve the latter.” Marcel Proust
Fears, Hopes, Triumph, Powers, Inner Strength, Emotional Victory
Marcel Proust Fears, Hopes, Triumph, Powers, Inner Strength, Emotional Victory“The bonds that unite us to another human being are sanctified when he or she adopts the same point of view as ourselves in judging one of our imperfections.” Marcel Proust
Bonds, Unity, Imperfections, Judging, Mutual Understanding, Emotional Harmony
Marcel Proust Bonds, Unity, Imperfections, Judging, Mutual Understanding, Emotional Harmony