[A Sip of Books] Why Do We Only Love What We Do Not Own?

Editor's NoteSome sentences encapsulate the entire content of a book, while others instantly resonate with the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. We have selected and introduced such meaningful sentences from books.

A collection of famous sentences from the works of Marcel Proust, the novelist who laid the foundation of 20th-century literature. Carefully selected sentences from novels, essays, criticism, and letters that have had a wide-ranging influence beyond literature, including philosophy, psychology, and popular arts. Proust was born in 1871 in Paris, France, as the eldest son of a wealthy family, naturally acquiring upper-class culture and gaining deep knowledge of literature, art, and music. He believed that art records human experience and allows it to be remembered even after time passes. He recognized literature as an important means to explore the essence of life and the complexities of human psychology. For him, his works were also a means to criticize social issues. He maintained a critical stance on political matters such as the decline of 19th-century aristocrats and the Dreyfus Affair.

The subject matter and the substance of the sentences we write should not be the exact reality captured as it is, but rather something immaterial. However, the sentences themselves and the episodes must be transparent substances dealing with the finest moments of our lives, and we must be detached from reality and the present time.

When reading a work, readers are each their own readers. The author's work is a tool provided to the reader, helping them discover something they might not have seen otherwise.

The state in which all our abilities and critical functions are expanded is a kind of grace. This voluntary servitude is the beginning of freedom. There is no better way to reach it than the effort to recreate what a great writer felt. Through such profound effort, one's own thoughts are born alongside the master's ideas.

Always keep a piece of the sky above your life.

We only like and pursue what we cannot reach, and we only love what we do not possess.

We visit the places where great people were born or died. But isn't the place that permeates the books of the great person we cherish more important than the places they loved most and admired? Why do we blindly worship the tomb of the British thinker Ruskin, which holds nothing of his? It is merely an illusion.

The rebellion of young people confused by the flow of the times is a very natural phenomenon, and such movements exist in various fields such as literature, poetry, and theater. This kind of rebellion is latent in the air we breathe and the education we receive. However, a strong will is necessary to stand against the flow of the times.

Sentences of Proust | Written by Marcel Proust | Translated by Choi Mi-kyung | Maumsanchaek | 248 pages | 17,000 KRW