1,085 Quotes by Marcel Proust

And what little she allowed herself to say was said in a strained tone, in which her ingrained timidity paralysed her tendency to freedom and audacity of speech.

... she had uttered these words simply in order to provoke a reply in certain other words, which she seemed, indeed, to wish to hear spoken, but, from prudence, would let her friend be the first to speak.

When he spoke, his words came with a confusion which was delightful to hear because one felt that it indicated not so much a defect in his speech as a quality of his soul, as it were a survival from the age of innocence which he had never wholly outgrown.

It is grief that develops the powers of the mind.

There is an inanimate object which has a capacity to exasperate which no human being will ever attain: a piano.

In my most desperate moments, I have never conceived of anything more horrible than a law office.

People are not always very tolerant of the tears which they themselves have provoked.

My only consolation when I am really sad is to love and to be loved.

همه‌ی این جدایی‌ها مرا ناخواسته به فکر آنچه جبران‌ناپذیر بود و روزی فرامی‌رسید می‌انداخت، هرچند که آن زمان هرگز جدی به امکان زنده‌ماندنِ خودم پس از مرگ مادرم فکر نکرده‌بودم. عزمم این بود که یک دقیقه از مرگ مادرم نگذشته خودم را بکشم. بعداً، غیبت مادرم چیزهایی از این تلخ‌تر به من آموخت، آموخت که آدم به غیبت عادت می‌کند، بزرگ‌ترین نقصانِ خویشتن و بزرگ‌ترین رنج این است که حس کنی از غیبت رنج نمی‌کشی.