The 53 best phrases by Marcel Proust, the writer of nostalgia
Reading Marcel Prous' most inspired phrases is a way of recognizing genius of this writer. Surely we find ourselves before one of the most important novelists of France in the nineteenth and twentieth century, both for his status as a brilliant writer and overwhelming philosophical theory. Born in Paris into a wealthy and traditionalist family, Valentin Louis Eugène Marcel Proust (1872 - 1922) did not have an easy life.
Already at an early age, he suffered physical difficulties that seriously affected his health, especially caused by asthma. Then, the overprotection he received from his spouses gave him an important parental dependence, a fact that affected him when his mother died suddenly.
But nevertheless, this sedentary life served him to cultivate a fascinating and imaginative inner world , that made him go back to his memories again and again. This was reflected in their creativity and wisdom: even if we can hardly move from bed, life goes on.
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Marcel Proust's most memorable phrases
In this article we will review Marcel Proust's most relevant phrases by the French author .
1. Nine-tenths of the evils that people suffer, arise from their intellect
Curious way to question human intelligence.
2. It is not only by force of lying to others, but also by lying to ourselves, that we stop noticing that we are lying
It is the number one rule to know how to lie.
3. Desire makes everything flourish; possession makes everything fade
Proust knew first-hand what it meant to be possessive.
4. People do not know when they are happy. They are never as unhappy as they think they are
For Marcel happiness was a lack in society.
5. The ties that bind us to another human being are sanctified when he or she adopts the same point of view
In life we relate to people who resemble us.
6. Give thanks to the people that make us happy; they are the lovely gardeners who make our soul bloom
An excellent way to know how to be grateful to others .
7. After a certain age we pretend that we do not care about the things we most want
According to Proust, priorities change when we do not achieve the objectives set a priori.
8. One does not change, become a different person, while still feeling the feelings of the person that one has ceased to be
Marcel describes perfectly a truth that is often rejected.
9. All of our final decisions are made in a state that will not last
Nothing is right or wrong. Everything can vary according to the moment.
10. The only true paradise is lost paradise
Curious way to describe a place so desired by the human being.
11. We do not receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves
For Marcel Proust one should achieve knowledge in a self-taught way .
12. The things we most want are the ones we pretend not to want
We are made to disguise what we most desire.
13. We lie all our lives even, or above all or maybe only, to those who love us
In this sentence the great truth of any society is collected.
14. It is better to dream your own life than to live it, although living it is also dreaming
Anyway, you have to enjoy our day to day.
15. The only real voyage of discovery consists not in looking for new landscapes, but in looking with new eyes
Everything depends on how we approach changes, how we look towards new experiences.
16. Jealousy, which spend their time making false assumptions, when it comes to discovering the truth
In this phrase by Marcel Proust, one can see perfectly Such a worrisome feeling for two people who love each other .
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17. Happiness in love is not a normal state
Marcel Proust was a great defender of love, but he did not confuse this state with happiness.
18. Sometimes we are too willing to believe that the present is the only possible state of things
The French author also liked to always look beyond day to day.
20. Ambition intoxicates more than glory
The desire to want something is very attractive and stimulating.
21. Love is the space and time measured by the heart
Excellent way to describe love.
22. For the kiss, the nose and eyes are as misplaced as the lips are wrong
Marcel Proust was a genius at the time of describing situations. The kiss was a phenomenon to which he paid special attention.
23. Jealousy is usually no more than a restless tyranny applied to the affairs of love
Once again, make us aware of what jealousy means.
24Each kiss calls another kiss
The kiss is something addictive between two people who love each other.
25. True happiness does not consist in finding new lands, but in seeing with other eyes
I already mentioned something about it, Marcel Proust again insists on how to face new experiences .
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26. It would be so difficult to cut the kisses that are given in an hour, like the flowers of a field in the month of May
This phrase manages to describe to perfection what the act of kissing means.
27. So it is with our past. It is work lost to want to evoke it, and all the efforts of our intelligence are useless
You always have to look forward.
28. My cowardice made me at the same time a man, and I did what all men who face face to face suffering and injustice
Marcel had a complicated childhood and adolescence.
29. Happiness is beneficial to the body, it is pain that develops the powers of the mind
According to Proust we should try to be as little skeptical as possible.
30. Little by little, the memory that disappeared, I had forgotten about the girl of my dreams
An example of how it is the nostalgic style of this writer .
31. It is often difficult to bear the tears that we ourselves have caused
Harming others hurts us first.
32. Always try to keep a piece of heaven above your life
The illusion and imagination makes our short life a good stimulus.
33. We have the misfortune of belonging to this world
The author was a little negativist towards the human being.
34. If a little sleep is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less, it is to dream all the time
Although we are disappointed by an illusion, we should not lose it for the future.
35. How naturally kisses are born in those first times of love!
Marcel was obsessed with kissing.
36. We are healed of suffering only by experiencing it to the fullest
Only by living several bad experiences can we overcome them.
37. Dear friend, I have died almost three times since this morning
We do not know exactly what the author means by this phrase.
38. Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have of them
No matter how we change or transform, often that does not change for others.
39. Love is a remarkable example of how little reality means to us
Great way to describe the feeling of love .
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40. The time we have is elastic; the passions we feel expand it, dreams contradict it; and the habit fills what is left
This was Marcel Proust's life.
41. The moment comes as soon as there is nothing to wait for
Things come, you just have to wait for them.
42. My destiny is no longer a place, but a new way of seeing
To face life according to the reality we project.
43. Reading is the fruitful miracle of a communication in the midst of loneliness
Reading is always an advantage both personally and professionally.
44. Love, always dissatisfied, lives at the moment when it is about to arrive
Love was a very present theme for Marcel Proust.
45. Like many intellectuals, he was unable to say a simple thing in a simple way
Intellectuality makes sometimes we do not know how to describe our thoughts well .
46. Let's leave beautiful women to men without imagination
Strong statement that if it were written today would cause controversy but that was normal in the context of Proust's time.
47. It is always like this, driven by a state of mind that is destined not to last, we make our irrevocable decisions
Temperament plays tricks on many occasions.
48. Only through art can we get out of ourselves and know what another person sees
Art makes us evade, illusion and cure disappointment.
49. Distrust of the man who never cries, is usually the most cowardly
Proust was known for his sensitivity declared openly, unusual in men of his time.
50. We must be brave in facing our own contradictions, rather than highlighting those of others
To criticize others, we must be better.
51. Falling in love is the last vital state of our existence
Love seems to be the final state of our life.
52. When you make an unwanted decision, do not regret it in posterity
Marcel Proust was very little given to repentance.
53. If you do not like the reality in which you live, invent it
The author insists again that everything depends on the point of view with which we project our reality.