Reading Marcel Prous’ most inspired phrases is a way of recognizing the genius of this writer. We are probably dealing with one of the most important novelists of 19th and 20th century France, both for his brilliant writing and his overwhelming philosophical theory. Born in Paris into a well-to-do and traditionalist family, Valentin Louis Eugène Marcel Proust (1872 – 1922) did not have an easy life.

Already at an early age, he was suffering from physical difficulties that seriously affected his health, especially caused by asthma. Then, the overprotection he received from his spouses meant that he was heavily dependent on his parents, a fact that affected him when his mother died suddenly.

However, this sedentary life served him to 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 hardly move from the bed, life goes on.

Marcel Proust’s most memorable phrases

In this article we will review the most relevant sentences of Marcel Proust by the French author .

1. Nine-tenths of the ills that people suffer arise from their intellect

Funny 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’s the number one rule of lying.

3. Desire makes everything bloom; possession makes everything fade away

Proust knew first-hand what it meant to be possessive.

4. People don’t know when they’re 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 look like us.

6. Let’s thank the people who make us happy; they are the lovely gardeners who make our souls bloom

An excellent way to know how to be grateful to others .

7. From a certain age we pretend not to 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, while still feeling the feelings of the person one has stopped being

Marcel describes perfectly 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 according to the moment.

10. The only true paradise is paradise lost

A 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 most desire are the things we pretend not to desire

We are made to conceal that which we most desire.

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

In this sentence, the great truth of any society is captured.

14. It is better to dream about one’s 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 journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in looking with new eyes

It all depends on how we approach change, how we look at new experiences.

16. Jealousy, which spends time making false assumptions, when it comes to discovering the truth

In this sentence of Marcel Proust, a feeling so worrying for two people who love each other is perfectly described .

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 the day-to-day.

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 kissing, the nose and eyes are as badly placed as the lips are badly made

Marcel Proust was a genius at 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. Each kiss calls for another kiss

Kissing is an addictive thing between two people who love each other.

25. True happiness does not consist in finding new lands, but in seeing with other eyes

Already mentioned something about this, Marcel Proust insists again 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 in a field in the month of May

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

27. So it is with our past. It is a lost work to want to evoke it, and all the efforts of our intelligence are useless

You always have to look ahead.

28. My cowardice made me at once a man, and I did what all men who look at suffering and injustice face to face do

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 less skeptical as possible.

30. Little by little, the memory that was disappearing, I had forgotten the girl of my dreams

An example of how this writer’s nostalgic style is .

31. It is often hard to bear the tears we ourselves have caused

Hurting others hurts us first.

32. Always try to keep a piece of heaven above your life

Illusion and imagination make our short life a good stimulus.

33. We have the misfortune to belong to this world

The author was a bit negative 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

Even if we are disappointed by an illusion, we must not lose it for the future.

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

Marcel was obsessed with kissing.

36. We are healed from suffering only by experiencing it to the fullest

Only by living through several bad experiences can we overcome them.

37. Dear friend, I have died almost three times since this morning

We don’t know exactly what the author means by this sentence.

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

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

39. Love is a remarkable 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, the dreams contract it; and the habit fills what remains

This was life for Marcel Proust.

41. The moment comes so soon, when there is nothing left 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 we project.

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

Reading is always an advantage on both 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, I was unable to say a simple thing in a simple way

The intelligentsia sometimes makes us unable to describe our thoughts properly .

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

A strong statement which, if written today, would have caused controversy but which was normal in the context of Proust’s time.

47. It is always like that, driven by a state of mind that is destined not to last, we make our irrevocable decisions

Temperament plays tricks on us many times.

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

Art makes us escape, it gives us hope and cures disappointment.

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

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

50. We must be courageous 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, don’t regret it in posterity

Marcel Proust was very little given to repentance.

53. If you don’t like the reality in which you live, make it up

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