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Quote by Marcel Proust

“As to the pretty girls who went past, from the day on which I had first known that their cheeks could be kissed, I had become curious about their souls. And the Universe had appeared to me more interesting.”

Quote by Marcel Proust

Book:Remembrance of Things Past

Work

Remembrance of Things Past

In this renowned work, the protagonist reflects on his past, delving into the complexities of human relationships and the passage of time. more

Author

Marcel Proust was a French novelist renowned for his magnum opus, 'In Search of Lost Time'. This novel is considered a classic of 20th-century literature, known for its intricate psychological portrayals and profound exploration of memory. more

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“Certainly, it is more reasonable to devote one's life to women than to postage stamps or old snuff-boxes, even to pictures or statues. But the example of other collections should be a warning to us to diversify, to have not one woman only but several.”

Should Women Example Boxes Reasonable Collections Warning Stamps Statues One Woman Snuff Postage Postage Stamps

Book:In Search of Lost Time, Volume III: The Guermantes Way

Source: In Search of Lost Time, Volume III: The Guermantes Way

“I had long since given up trying to extract from a woman as it were the square root of her unknown quantity, the mystery of which a mere introduction was generally enough to dispel.”

Trying Long Enough Given Women Mystery Roots Mere Squares Quantity Introduction Given Up Square Roots

Book:In Search of Lost Time, Volume IV: Sodom and Gomorrah (A Modern Library E-Book)

Source: In Search of Lost Time, Volume IV: Sodom and Gomorrah (A Modern Library E-Book)

“Our words are, as a general rule, filled by the people to whom we address them with a meaning which those people derive from their own substance, a meaning widely different from that which we had put into the same words when we uttered them.”

People Different Filled Substance Addresses Our Words

Book:In Search of Lost Time: Within a budding grove

Source: In Search of Lost Time: Within a budding grove

“Like a kaleidoscope which is every now and then given a turn, society arranges successively in different orders elements which one would have supposed immutable, and composes a new pattern.”

Different Order Turns Given Elements Patterns Now And Then Kaleidoscope

Book:In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book)

Source: In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book)

“There comes in all our lives a time ... when the ears can listen to no music save what the moonlight breathes through the flute of silence.”

Silence Our Lives Ears Breathe Moonlight Flutes

Book:Swann's Way

Source: Swann's Way

“Existence is of little interest save on days when the dust of realities is mingled with magic sand.”

Littles Reality Interest Existence Magic Dust Sand

Book:In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book)

Source: In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book)

“Certain favourite roles are played by us so often before the public and rehearsed so carefully when we are alone that we find it easier to refer to their fictitious testimony than to that of a reality which we have almost entirely forgotten.”

Reality Certain Roles Easier Forgotten Favourite Testimony

Book:In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book)

Source: In Search of Lost Time, Volume II: Within a Budding Grove (A Modern Library E-Book)

“We ought at least, from prudence, never to speak of ourselves, because that is a subject on which we may be sure that other people's views are never in accordance with our own.”

People May Speak Views Subjects Ought Prudence

Book:Remembrance of Things Past

Source: Remembrance of Things Past

“If there is one thing more difficult than submitting oneself to a regime it is refraining from imposing it on other people.”

People Ifs Difficult One Thing Oneself Regimes Imposing

Book:Remembrance of Things Past

Source: Remembrance of Things Past

“Let but a single flash of reality -- the glimpse of a woman from afar or from behind -- enable us to project the image of Beauty before our eyes, and we imagine that we have recognised it, our hearts beat, and we will always remain half-persuaded that it was She, provided that the woman has vanished: it is only if we manage to overtake her that we realise our mistake.”

Ifs Heart Reality Eye Behinds Mistake Half Imagine Projects Beats Manage Realising Imagine That Flash Glimpse Afar Heart Beat

Book:In Search of Lost Time: Within a budding grove

Source: In Search of Lost Time: Within a budding grove