Marcel Proust

France
10 Jul 1871 // 18 Nov 1922
Writer

Quotes

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The features of our face are hardly more than gestures which have become permanent
The duty and the task of a writer are those of an interpreter
People wish to learn to swim and at the same time to keep one foot on the ground
Our intonations contain our philosophy of life, what each of us is constantly telling himself about things
Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees
Often it is just lack of imagination that keeps a man from suffering very much
Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way
Less disappointing than life, great works of art do not begin by giving us all their best
It is often hard to bear the tears that we ourselves have caused
It is not because other people are dead that our affection for them grows faint, it is because we ourselves are dying
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays