--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a…" description: "\"A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped.\" — Marcel Proust" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/marcel-proust-114_cathedrals_a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s_903272.jpg" --- # A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a dancer's leap, never… ![“A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/marcel-proust-114_cathedrals_a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s_903272.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/marcel-proust-114_cathedrals_a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s_903272.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/marcel-proust-114_cathedrals_a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s_903272.jpg) > “A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped.” [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Expectations often exceed reality; lofty ambitions may not be fully realized. **In simple terms:** High hopes can fall short. Key Takeaway Manage expectations realistically. Themes expectations ambition disappointment Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - project planning - creative endeavors - personal goals Key Concepts psychology of hope goal setting Questions to Reflect On - What goals have you adjusted? - How do you balance ambition with realism? A Different Perspective Over‑optimism can lead to frustration. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cathedral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cathedral/) [Cathedrals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cathedrals/) [Dance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance/) [Dancer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dancer/) [Leap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leap/) [Motivational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motivational/) ## Related quotes > [“But one never finds a cathedral, a wave in a storm, a dancer's leap in the air quite as high as one has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-in-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-in/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you see no glory, nor can possibly imagine any; standing within, every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/christian-faith-is-a-grand-cathedral-with-divinely-pictured-windows/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [I wish someone would ask me to design a cathedral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-johnson/i-wish-someone-would-ask-me-to-design-a-cathedral/) [Philip Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-johnson/) > [The library is my cathedral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-bretton/the-library-is-my-cathedral/) [Barbara Bretton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-bretton/) > [The Gothic cathedral is a blossoming in stone subdued by the insatiable demand of harmony in man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-gothic-cathedral-is-a-blossoming-in-stone-subdued-by-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [In the cathedral of my heart a candle will always be lit for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hardy-kruger/in-the-cathedral-of-my-heart-a-candle-will-always-be-lit-for-you/) Hardy Kruger > [The challenge of a cathedral is very good for architectural inventiveness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-niemeyer/the-challenge-of-a-cathedral-is-very-good-for-architectural/) [Oscar Niemeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-niemeyer/) > [The perfume of the flowers and of the bay tree are wafted on high, like incense. The birds sing sweet songs of praise to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wendt/the-perfume-of-the-flowers-and-of-the-bay-tree-are-wafted-on-high/) William Wendt > [We thought of universities as the cathedrals of the modern world. In the middle ages, the cathedral was the center and symbol of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-revelle/we-thought-of-universities-as-the-cathedrals-of-the-modern-world-in/) Roger Revelle > [You can't build a cathedral in a day. A look at the club's history tells you these things take time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-houllier/you-can-t-build-a-cathedral-in-a-day-a-look-at-the-club-s-history/) [Gerard Houllier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-houllier/) > [“When we look at a perfect cathedral, two different emotions emerge in us: On the one hand, the feeling of admiration for the architect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/when-we-look-at-a-perfect-cathedral-two-different-emotions-emerge-in/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral: a thing as simple and specious as a statue to the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/mankind-was-never-so-happily-inspired-as-when-it-made-a-cathedral-a/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [He who bears in his heart a cathedral to be built is already victorious. He who seeks to become sexton of a finished cathedral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/he-who-bears-in-his-heart-a-cathedral-to-be-built-is-already/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [The Sabbath is a weekly cathedral raised up in my dining room, in my family, in my heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-diament/the-sabbath-is-a-weekly-cathedral-raised-up-in-my-dining-room-in-my/) [Anita Diament](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-diament/) > [The Christian faith is a grand cathedral with divinely pictured windows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-christian-faith-is-a-grand-cathedral-with-divinely-pictured/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) ## More by Marcel Proust > [“machinery' of life at Versailles; and was able, too, to persuade herself that her silence, a shade of good humour or of arrogance on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/machinery-of-life-at-versailles-and-was-able-too-to-persuade-herself/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [ “For her \[Françoise\], wealth was like a necessary condition without which virtue would lack both merit and charm. She made so little distinction between… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/for-her-fran-oise-wealth-was-like-a-necessary-condition-without-which/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Knowing does not always allow us to prevent, but at least the things that we know, we hold them, if not in our hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/knowing-does-not-always-allow-us-to-prevent-but-at-least-the-things/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Death is in truth an illness from which we recover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/death-is-in-truth-an-illness-from-which-we-recover/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [The bonds that unite another person to our self exist only in our mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-bonds-that-unite-another-person-to-our-self-exist-only-in-our-mind/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [...a writer's works, like the water in an artesian well, mount to a height which is in proportion to the depth to which suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-writer-s-works-like-the-water-in-an-artesian-well-mount-to-a-height/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Then from those profound slumbers we awake in a dawn, not knowing who we are, being nobody, newly born, ready for anything, the brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/then-from-those-profound-slumbers-we-awake-in-a-dawn-not-knowing-who/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Art extracted from the most familiar reality does indeed exist and its domain is perhaps the largest of any.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/art-extracted-from-the-most-familiar-reality-does-indeed-exist-and/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, aplant,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-find-very-reasonable-the-celtic-belief-that-the-souls-of-our-dearly/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When you heard anyone in the middle of a talk which was being deliberately kept off the Affair announce furtively some piece of political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-you-heard-anyone-in-the-middle-of-a-talk-which-was-being/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“We betroth ourselves by proxy, and then feel obliged to marry the intermediary.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/we-betroth-ourselves-by-proxy-and-then-feel-obliged-to-marry-the/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“But the old lady on the contrary, far from justifying her daughter’s fears, felt every time someone of her own age “disappeared” that she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-the-old-lady-on-the-contrary-far-from-justifying-her-daughter-s/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [Often it is just lack of imagination that keeps a man from suffering very much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/often-it-is-just-lack-of-imagination-that-keeps-a-man-from-suffering/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“When we are nice to others, we generally lose all claim to their respect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-we-are-nice-to-others-we-generally-lose-all-claim-to-their/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Nobility is often no more than the inner aspect which our egotistical feelings assume when we have not yet named and classified them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/nobility-is-often-no-more-than-the-inner-aspect-which-our-egotistical/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) [Explore all 1,113 Marcel Proust quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## More Cathedral quotes > [Whence, then, did the cathedral derive its power? Clearly here: It took back the family into the confidences of religion. It taught man and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenkin-lloyd-jones/whence-then-did-the-cathedral-derive-its-power-clearly-here-it-took/) [Jenkin Lloyd Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenkin-lloyd-jones/) > [“The sun appeared between the twin spires of the cathedral as its light reflected off the crescent and star that rose out of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tucker-elliot/the-sun-appeared-between-the-twin-spires-of-the-cathedral-as-its/) [Tucker Elliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tucker-elliot/) > [Christian faith is a grand cathedral, with divinely pictured windows. Standing without, you see no glory, nor can possibly imagine any; standing within, every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-hawthorne/christian-faith-is-a-grand-cathedral-with-divinely-pictured-windows/) [Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-hawthorne/) > [It was a secular cathedral, dedicated to the rites of travel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hughes/it-was-a-secular-cathedral-dedicated-to-the-rites-of-travel/) [Robert Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hughes/) > [The Sabbath is a weekly cathedral raised up in my dining room, in my family, in my heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anita-diament/the-sabbath-is-a-weekly-cathedral-raised-up-in-my-dining-room-in-my/) [Anita Diament](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anita-diament/) > [“Love can be a natural endowment, a present, or a gift. If it is not just a donation, it can be a divine talent.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-pevernagie/love-can-be-a-natural-endowment-a-present-or-a-gift-if-it-is-not-just/) [Erik Pevernagie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-pevernagie/) > [When I started to build this cathedral, the word on the street was that I was crazy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justo-gallego/when-i-started-to-build-this-cathedral-the-word-on-the-street-was/) [Justo Gallego](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justo-gallego/) > [He who bears in his heart a cathedral to be built is already victorious. He who seeks to become sexton of a finished cathedral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/he-who-bears-in-his-heart-a-cathedral-to-be-built-is-already/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [As a boy soprano in the high school choir, I later sang a solo during the carol service at Canterbury Cathedral, but I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hamish-bowles/as-a-boy-soprano-in-the-high-school-choir-i-later-sang-a-solo-during/) [Hamish Bowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hamish-bowles/) > [Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral: a thing as simple and specious as a statue to the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/mankind-was-never-so-happily-inspired-as-when-it-made-a-cathedral-a/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [I'm not a religious person. But, when I look at a beautiful cathedral, what brings awe, what induces awe is the idea that architecture,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-silva/i-m-not-a-religious-person-but-when-i-look-at-a-beautiful-cathedral/) [Jason Silva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-silva/) > [“When we look at a perfect cathedral, two different emotions emerge in us: On the one hand, the feeling of admiration for the architect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/when-we-look-at-a-perfect-cathedral-two-different-emotions-emerge-in/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [If it wasn't for Durham Cathedral I probably wouldn't be an architect. I was taken there when I was about seven and I couldn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-clarke/if-it-wasn-t-for-durham-cathedral-i-probably-wouldn-t-be-an-architect/) [George Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-clarke/) > [“The rooks were sailing about the cathedral towers; and the towers themselves, overlooking many a long unaltered mile of the rich country and its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/the-rooks-were-sailing-about-the-cathedral-towers-and-the-towers/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [You can't build a cathedral in a day. A look at the club's history tells you these things take time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-houllier/you-can-t-build-a-cathedral-in-a-day-a-look-at-the-club-s-history/) [Gerard Houllier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-houllier/) [Browse all 111 Cathedral quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cathedral/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-never-turn-out-to-be-as/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Cathedral" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-never-turn-out-to-be-as/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/marcel-proust-114_cathedrals_a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s_903272.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/marcel-proust-114_cathedrals_a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s_903272.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/marcel-proust-114_cathedrals_a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s_903272.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped.” — Marcel Proust", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Marcel Proust", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A cathedral, a wave of a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-never-turn-out-to-be-as/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-never-turn-out-to-be-as/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```