The 53 Best Phrases of Marcel Proust, the Writer of Nostalgia

Reading the most inspired Marcel Prous phrases is a way to recognize genius of this writer. We are surely facing one of the most important novelists of 19th and 20th century France, both for his status as a brilliant writer and for his 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 that he received from his spouse led to significant parental dependence, a fact that affected him when his mother died suddenly.

However, This sedentary life helped him cultivate an exciting and imaginative inner world, which made him return to his memories again and again. This was reflected in his creativity and wisdom: even if we can barely get out of bed, life goes on.

The most memorable Marcel Proust phrases

In this article we will review the most relevant Marcel Proust phrases of 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 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 firsthand what it meant to be possessive.

4. People don’t 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 ​​interact with people who look like us.

6. Let’s give thanks to the people who make us happy; They are the charming gardeners that make our soul bloom.

An excellent way to know how to be grateful to others

7. From a certain age we pretend that we don’t care about the things we want most.

According to Proust, priorities change when we do not achieve the objectives set a priori.

8. One does not change, becoming a different person, without ceasing to feel the feelings of the person one has stopped being.

Marcel perfectly describes a truth that is often rejected.

9. All our final decisions are made in a state that will not last

Nothing is right or wrong. Everything can vary depending on the moment.

10. The only true paradise is paradise lost

Curious way to describe a place so desired by human beings.

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 want most are the things we pretend not to want.

We are made to hide what we most desire.

13. We lie all our lives even, or especially or maybe only, to those who love us

This phrase contains the great truth of any society.

14. It is better to dream your own life than to live it, although living it is also dreaming it

Be that as it may, we have to enjoy our day to day life.

15. The only true voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in looking with new eyes

It all depends on how we approach the changes, how we look towards new experiences.

16. Jealousy, which spends time making false assumptions, when what it is about is discovering the truth

In this phrase by Marcel Proust it is perfectly described such a worrying feeling for two people who love each other

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 everyday life.

20. Ambition is more intoxicating than glory

The desire to want to achieve something is very attractive and stimulating.

21. Love is space and time measured by the heart

Excellent way to describe love.

22. For the kiss, the nose and eyes are as poorly placed as the lips are poorly made.

Marcel Proust was a genius when it came to describing situations. The kiss was a phenomenon to which he paid special attention.

23. Jealousy is usually nothing more than a restless tyranny applied to matters of love

Again, it makes us aware of what jealousy means.

24. Every kiss calls for another kiss

The kiss is something addictive between two people who love each other.

25. True happiness is not in finding new lands, but in seeing with different eyes

Already mentioned something about it, Marcel Proust once again insists on how to face new experiences

26. It would be as difficult to cut off the kisses that are given in an hour, as the flowers of a field in the month of May.

This phrase manages to perfectly describe what the act of kissing means.

27. So it is with our past. It is a lost job 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 a man at the same time, and I did what all men who looked suffering and injustice in the face

Marcel had a complicated childhood and adolescence.

29. Happiness is beneficial for 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 what it is like 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 sky above your life

Illusion and imagination make our short life a good stimulus.

33. We are unfortunate to belong to this world

The author was a bit negativistic towards human beings.

34. If a little sleep is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less, it is to dream all the time

Even if an illusion disappoints us, we must not lose it for the future.

35. How naturally kisses are born in those early days of love!

Marcel was obsessed with kisses.

36. We are cured 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 with this phrase.

38. Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have of them

No matter how we change or transform, it often doesn’t change for others.

39. Love is a notable example of how little reality means to us

Great way to describe the feeling of love

40. The time we have is elastic; The passions we feel expand it, dreams contract it; and habit fills what is left

This was life for Marcel Proust.

41. The moment comes so soon, when there is nothing more 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

Face life according to the reality that we project.

43. Reading is the fruitful miracle of communication in the midst of loneliness

Reading is always an advantage both on a personal and professional level.

44. Love, always unsatisfied, lives in the moment it is about to arrive

Love was a very present theme for Marcel Proust.

45. Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way

Intellectuality sometimes makes we do not know how to describe our thoughts well

46. ​​Let’s leave pretty women to men without imagination

A forceful statement that if it had been written today would cause controversy but which 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 us on many occasions.

48. Only through art can we get out of ourselves and know what another person sees

Art makes us escape, excites us and cures disappointment.

49. Distrust the man who never cries, he is usually the most cowardly

Proust was known for his sensitivity openly declared, unusual in men of his time.

50. We must be brave when 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 don’t like the reality you live in, invent it

The author once again insists that everything depends on the point of view with which we project our reality.