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Nothing is forgotten in the processes of idealization. Reveries of idealization develop, not by letting oneself be taken in by memories, but by constantly dreaming the values of a being whom one would love. And that is the way a great dreamer dreams his double. His magnified double sustains him.
Gaston Bachelard
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote explores the idea of idealization and how dreams influence our perception of love and self.

Gaston Bachelard's quote reflects on the complex process of idealization, suggesting that our dreams and memories intertwine to shape how we perceive and ultimately love others. Rather than merely recalling past experiences, it emphasizes the importance of actively dreaming and envisioning the values of who we love, indicating that this idealized version sustains our aspirations and shapes our identity.

Themes

IdealizationDreamsLoveMemoryAspiration

In practice

Example use cases

A speaker might use this quote in a talk about the power of dreams in shaping our identities.

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In order to dream so far, is it enough to read? Isn't it necessary to write? Write as in our schoolboy past, in those days when, as Bonnoure says, the letters wrote themselves one by one, either in their gibbosity or else in their pretentious elegance? In those days, spelling was a drama, our drama of culture at work in the interior of a word.
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How is it possible not to feel that there is communication between our solitude as a dreamer and the solitudes of childhood? And it is no accident that, in a tranquil reverie, we often follow the slope which returns us to our childhood solitudes.
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