Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proustwas a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental novel À la recherche du temps perdu, published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest authors...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth10 July 1871
CountryFrance
moving mean years
For although we know that the years pass, that youth gives way to old age, that fortunes and thrones crumble (even the most solid among them) and that fame is transitory, the manner in which—by means of a sort of snapshot—we take cognisance of this moving universe whirled along by Time, has the contrary effect of immobilising it.
mean thinking afternoon
We may, indeed, say that the hour of death is uncertain, but when we say this we think of that hour as situated in a vague and remote expanse of time; it does not occur to us that it can have any connexion with the day that has already dawned and can mean that death -- or its first assault and partial possession of us, after which it will never leave hold of us again -- may occur this very afternoon, so far from uncertain, this afternoon whose time-table, hour by hour, has been settled in advance.
passion mean pride
This labour of the artist to discover a means of apprehending beneath matter and experience, beneath words, something different from their appearance, is of an exactly contrary nature to the operation in which pride, passion, intelligence and habit are constantly engaged within us when we spend our lives without self-communion, accumulating as though to hide our true impressions, the terminology for practical ends which we falsely call life.
believe mean reality
But when one believes in the reality of things, making them visible by artificial means is not quite the same as feeling that they are close at hand.
mean love-is reality
Love is a striking example of how little reality means to us.
best second
We always end up doing the thing we are second best at.
generally habit proportion
The regularity of a habit is generally in proportion to its absurdity.
decisions destined mind state
It is always thus, impelled by a state of mind which is destined not to last, that we make our irrevocable decisions
expressing healed suffering
We are healed of a suffering only by expressing it to the full.
healed suffering
We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it in full.
according art artist aspects reality represent selective view
Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments. An artist recreates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man's nature.
face features gestures hardly permanent
The features of our face are hardly more than gestures which have become permanent
becomes moral soon unhappy
As soon as one is unhappy one becomes moral
consists discovery landscapes seeking voyage
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.