When we have passed a certain age, the soul of the child we were and the souls of the dead from whom we have sprung come to lavish on us their riches and their spells.
Interpretation
As we age, we inherit the wisdom and experiences of our childhood and our ancestors, enriching our lives.
This quote by Marcel Proust suggests that as we grow older, we not only reflect on our own childhood experiences but also tap into the wisdom and legacy of our ancestors. It implies that the combination of our past and the collective memories of those who came before us bestows upon us a depth of understanding and richness in life that can guide us through our own journey.
In practice
During a speech about personal growth, I might say, 'As we age, we bring forth the souls of our past, enriching our lives with memories and lessons learned.'
But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.
At that time, he was satisfying a sensual curiosity by experiencing the pleasures of people who live for love. He had believed he could stop there, that he would not be obliged to learn their sorrows; how small a thing her charm was for him now compared with the astounding terror that extended out from it like a murky halo, the immense anguish of not knowing at every moment what she had been doing, of not possessing her everywhere and always!
We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes. The situation that we hoped to change because it was intolerable becomes unimportant. We have not managed to surmount the obstacle, as we were absolutely determined to do, but life has taken us round it, led us past it, and then if we turn round to gaze at the remote past, we can barely catch sight of it, so imperceptible has it become.
A person does not...stand motionless and clear before our eyes with his merits, his defects, his plans, his intentions with regard to ourself exposed on his surface...but is a shadow which we can never succeed in penetrating...a shadow behind which we can alternately imagine, with equal justification, that there burns the flame of hatred and of love.
We are all of us obliged, if we are to make reality endurable, to nurse a few little follies in ourselves.
There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.
No sin is necessarily connected with sorrow of heart, for Jesus Christ our Lord once said, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death." There was no sin in Him, and consequently none in His deep depression.
I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don't have to waste your time in either attacking or defending.
Brethren, let us mind our own business - that is, the calling the Lord has called us to - to do everything we can to promote the good of the Cause of Truth, and never ask how big we are, or inquire who we are; but let it be, 'What can I do to build up the Kingdom of God upon the Earth?'
Take notice not only of the mercies of God, but of God in the mercies. Mercies are never so savoury as when they savour a Saviour.
Take what you can yourself, and don't let others get you into their hands; to belong to oneself, that is the whole thing in life.
Life results from the non-random survival of randomly varying replicators. The watchmaker is blind
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