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
book simple personality
None of us constitutes a material whole, identical for everyone, which a person has only to go look up as though we were a book of specifications or a last testament; our social personality is a creation of the minds of others. Even the very simple act that we call "seeing a person we know" is in part an intellectual one. We fill the physical appearance of the individual we see with all the notions we have about him, and of the total picture that we form for ourselves, these notions certainly occupy the greater part.
simple stupidity intellectual
Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way.
simple play intellectual
Even the simple act that we call "going to visit a person of our acquaintance" is in part an intellectual act. We fill the physical appearance of the person we see with all the notions we have about him, and in the totality of our impressions about him, these notions play the most important role.
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.
advantage desires fresh future love mind piece secured since
There can be no piece of mind in love, since the advantage one has secured is never anything but a fresh starting-point for future desires
best second
We always end up doing the thing we are second best at.
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
generally habit proportion
The regularity of a habit is generally in proportion to its absurdity.
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.
actions difficult stellar universe
The stellar universe is not so difficult of comprehension as the real actions of other people.
man power powerful
A powerful idea communicates some of its power to the man who contradicts it
doctor illness knowledge pain pay promise whom
Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge we make promise only; pain we obey.