Proust, and the Maxims Thereof.

"Just as priests, who have the greatest experience of the heart, can best forgive sins which they do..."

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:02:56 -0400

“Just as priests, who have the greatest experience of the heart, can best forgive sins which they do not themselves commit; so the genius, who has the broadest intellectual experience, can best understand ideas which differ most from those which form the basis of his own works.”

- Marcel Proust

post-proust: “Do a cattleya.”

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:02:49 -0400

post-proust:

“Do a cattleya.”

"Love is an incurable malady like those diatheses in which rheumatism lets up only to make way for..."

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:36:00 -0400

“Love is an incurable malady like those diatheses in which rheumatism lets up only to make way for chronic headaches.”

- Marcel Proust

"A clear view of certain inferiorities in no way diminishes affection; on the contrary, love makes us..."

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:08:22 -0400

“A clear view of certain inferiorities in no way diminishes affection; on the contrary, love makes us consider them charming.”

- Marcel Proust

"To everything more or less British, the French give an English name, just not the one that is used..."

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:51:18 -0400

“To everything more or less British, the French give an English name, just not the one that is used in England.”

- Marcel Proust

"Aesthetically, the number of human types is so limited that wherever one goes one often has the joy..."

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:34:00 -0400

“Aesthetically, the number of human types is so limited that wherever one goes one often has the joy of seeing people who resemble friends. And a kind of magnetic influence draws together and binds inseparably certain physical and mental traits so that when nature thus introduces a person into a new body it does not mutilate the personality noticeably.”

- Marcel Proust

"Each one of us has his own way of being betrayed in love just as each of us has his own way of..."

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:18:18 -0400

“Each one of us has his own way of being betrayed in love just as each of us has his own way of catching a cold.”

- Marcel Proust

"We get engaged by proxy and then think ourselves obliged to marry the person who has been..."

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:41:15 -0400

“We get engaged by proxy and then think ourselves obliged to marry the person who has been substituted for our beloved.”

- Marcel Proust

"Of all the means by which love is produced, of all its agents of dissemination, one of the most..."

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:44:51 -0400

“Of all the means by which love is produced, of all its agents of dissemination, one of the most efficacious is that great wave of anxiety which sometimes passes over us. At such times the die is cast: we shall love the person whose company pleases us at that time. It is not even necessary that up to then we should have liked her more than or even as much as others. What is necessary is that our taste for her should become exclusive.”

- Marcel Proust

"When a piece of sculpture or a musical composition produces an emotion that one feels to be higher,..."

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:02:41 -0400

“When a piece of sculpture or a musical composition produces an emotion that one feels to be higher, purer, truer than ordinary life, such a work must correspond to a certain spiritual reality.”

- Marcel Proust

"Doubtless to every man the life of any other individual reaches out into obscurity down unsuspected..."

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 01:05:54 -0400

“Doubtless to every man the life of any other individual reaches out into obscurity down unsuspected paths.”

- Marcel Proust

"When nothing remains of our remote past, after the people are dead and the things are destroyed,..."

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:09:33 -0400

“When nothing remains of our remote past, after the people are dead and the things are destroyed, alone - more fragile yet longer lived, more immaterial, more steadfast, more faithful, the smell and taste of things persist, like souls, ready and waiting to remind us; over the ruin of all the rest they bear unflinchingly on their almost impalpable droplet the immense edifice of memory.”

- Marcel Proust

"Certainly it is more reasonable to sacrifice one’s life to women than to postage stamps, to..."

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 22:57:09 -0400

“Certainly it is more reasonable to sacrifice one’s life to women than to postage stamps, to old snuffboxes, even to painting and statues. But the example of such collections should teach us not to limit ourselves to one woman.”

- Marcel Proust

"In matters of love, one must not fear, as in ordinary life, merely the future, but even the past,..."

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:32:00 -0400

“In matters of love, one must not fear, as in ordinary life, merely the future, but even the past, which often does not materialize for us until the future. This is true not only of the past that we learn after the fact, but also of the past that we have long preserved in our minds and that we suddenly learn how to interpret.”

- Marcel Proust

"During a war the man who does not love his country says nothing bad about it, but believes it lost,..."

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 21:36:11 -0400

“During a war the man who does not love his country says nothing bad about it, but believes it lost, pities it, and sees everything in the worst light.”

- Marcel Proust

"After a certain lapse of time the cancer patient dies. It is very rare that after the same amount of..."

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:43:43 -0400

“After a certain lapse of time the cancer patient dies. It is very rare that after the same amount of time the inconsolable widower is not cured.”

- Marcel Proust

"Reason opens our eyes; an error we have dispelled gives us an additional sense."

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:38:00 -0400

“Reason opens our eyes; an error we have dispelled gives us an additional sense.”

- Marcel Proust

"There are moments in life when a kind of beauty is born of the multiplicity of our troubles..."

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:10:00 -0400

“There are moments in life when a kind of beauty is born of the multiplicity of our troubles intertwined like Wagnerian leitmotifs.”

- Marcel Proust

"The charms of a passing woman are usually in direction ratio to the speed of her passing."

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:58:49 -0400

“The charms of a passing woman are usually in direction ratio to the speed of her passing.”

- Marcel Proust

"The pleasure that all men experience in mulling over their recollections is often keenest in those..."

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:11:30 -0400

“The pleasure that all men experience in mulling over their recollections is often keenest in those whom the tyranny of a malady and the daily hope of its cure keep, on the one hand, from seeking in nature images resembling those recollections and yet, on the other hand, leave confident that they will soon be able to do so. This hope adds an element of expectancy to memories and saves them from being mere recollections of a dead past.”

- Marcel Proust