Marcel Proust Quotes

“For her [Françoise], wealth was like a necessary condition without which virtue would lack both merit and charm. She made so little distinction between the two that she came to see their qualities as interchangeable, expecting material comfort from virtue and moral edification from wealth.”

“A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to take it off of you.”

“When I write, it is always the melody that comes first, and it just happens to be the case that the most beautiful tunes are sad, and the lyrics follow the mood of the melody.”

“Art must take reality by surprise.”

“To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter.”

“The one thing I regret is that I will never have time to read all the books I want to read.”

“One can never speak enough of the virtues, the dangers, the power of shared laughter.”

“I always believe things are going to work out.”

“Only by pursuing the extremes in one's nature with all its contradictions appetites aversions rages can one hope to understand a little ... oh I admit only a very little ... of what life is about.”

“I have loved to the point of madness that which is called madness that which to me is the only sensible way to love.”