The world was not created once and for all time for each of us individually. There are added to it in the course of our life things of which we have never had any suspicion.
Marcel Proust
Creation, Discovery, Individual Experience, World View, Life Changes, Philosophy
Marcel Proust’s Quotes On Topics
Particular Qualities | Weekend Warmth | Life Continuity | Underappreciated Genius | Poetic Reality | Lost Glamour | Identity Shift | Wishes | Pillow | Nostalgic Recall | Peaceful Intimacy | Reality | Imaginative Realities | Limit Exploration | Changed Vision | Friend | Thought Stages | Words | Earlier Impressions | Longing Desire | More
More Marcel Proust Quotes
“There’s nothing like desire to prevent the things one says from having any resemblance to the things in one’s mind.” Marcel Proust
Desire, Prevent, Things, Mind, Emotional Conflict, Spoken Disharmony
Marcel Proust Desire, Prevent, Things, Mind, Emotional Conflict, Spoken Disharmony“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“For we are not as faithful to the being we have most loved as we are to ourselves and sooner or later we forget her – since that is one of our characteristics – so as to start loving another.” Marcel Proust
Love, Faithfulness, Forgetfulness, Emotional Transition, Self-Priority, Love Change
Marcel Proust Love, Faithfulness, Forgetfulness, Emotional Transition, Self-Priority, Love Change“Sometimes in the afternoon sky the moon would pass white as a cloud, furtive, lusterless, like an actress who does not have to perform yet and who, from the audience, in street clothes, watches the other actors for a moment, making herself inconspicuous, not wanting anyone to pay attention to her.” Marcel Proust
Moon, Sky, Cloud, Actress, Quiet Presence, Celestial Beauty
Marcel Proust Moon, Sky, Cloud, Actress, Quiet Presence, Celestial Beauty“I drank a second mouthful in which I find nothing more than in the first, then a third which gives me rather less than the second. It is time to stop; the potion is losing its magic.” Marcel Proust
Mouthful, Potion, Second, Magic, Diminished Effect, Fleeting Wonder
Marcel Proust Mouthful, Potion, Second, Magic, Diminished Effect, Fleeting Wonder“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“Anything we have not had to decipher, to bring to light by our own effort, anything which was already clearly visible, is not our own.” Marcel Proust
Discovery, Personal Effort, Clear Visibility, Deciphering Work, True Ownership, Mental Effort
Marcel Proust Discovery, Personal Effort, Clear Visibility, Deciphering Work, True Ownership, Mental Effort“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“Il faudrait choisir de cesser de souffrir ou de cesser d’aimer.” Marcel Proust
Love, Suffering, Emotional Choice, Painful Love, Duality Of Feelings, Personal Struggle
Marcel Proust Love, Suffering, Emotional Choice, Painful Love, Duality Of Feelings, Personal Struggle“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“In most women’s lives, everything, even the greatest sorrow, comes down to a question of ‘I haven’t got a thing to wear’.” Marcel Proust
Women, Sorrow, Fashion Dilemmas, Daily Life, Humor, Priorities
Marcel Proust Women, Sorrow, Fashion Dilemmas, Daily Life, Humor, Priorities“Sometimes, too, just as Eve was created from a rib of Adam, so a woman would come into existence while I was sleeping, conceived from some strain in the position of my limbs. Formed by the appetite that I was on the point of gratifying, she it was, I imagined, who offered me that gratification. My body, conscious that its own warmth was permeating hers, would strive to become one with her, and I would awake.” Marcel Proust
Eve, Woman, Imagined Creation, Sleep Desire, Physical Connection, Intimate Dreams
Marcel Proust Eve, Woman, Imagined Creation, Sleep Desire, Physical Connection, Intimate Dreams“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 Life, Muses, Limpid Reflection, Artistic Inspiration, Beauty, Imagination“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 bonds between ourselves and another person exists only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we want to be duped and which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we dupe other people, we exist alone. Man is the creature who cannot escape from himself, who knows other people only in himself, and when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.” Marcel Proust
Emotional Bonds, Solitude, Memory Fading, Self Reflection, Illusion Of Connection, Emotional Solitude
Marcel Proust Emotional Bonds, Solitude, Memory Fading, Self Reflection, Illusion Of Connection, Emotional Solitude“But to ask pity of our body is like discoursing in front of an octopus, for which our words can have no more meaning than the sound of the tides, and with which we should be appalled to find ourselves condemned to live.” Marcel Proust
Pity, Body, Octopus Analogy, Meaningless Words, Emotional Isolation, Strange Existence
Marcel Proust Pity, Body, Octopus Analogy, Meaningless Words, Emotional Isolation, Strange Existence“Desire makes everything blossom; possession makes everything wither and fade.” Marcel Proust
Desire, Possession, Blossom And Fade, Emotional Cycle, Reflection, Love
Marcel Proust Desire, Possession, Blossom And Fade, Emotional Cycle, Reflection, Love“I did not wait to hear the end of my father’s story, for I had been with him myself after mass when we had met M. Legrandin; instead, I went downstairs to the kitchen to ask about the menu for our dinner, which was of fresh interest to me daily, like the news in a paper, and excited me as might the programme of a coming festivity.” Marcel Proust
Father, Story, Dinner Menu, Daily Interest, Festive Anticipation, Familial Moments
Marcel Proust Father, Story, Dinner Menu, Daily Interest, Festive Anticipation, Familial Moments“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“But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.” Marcel Proust
Memory, Sensory Connection, Nostalgia, Endurance, Fragile Persistence, Faithful Souls
Marcel Proust Memory, Sensory Connection, Nostalgia, Endurance, Fragile Persistence, Faithful Souls