--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And at once I fell in love with her, for…" description: "\"“And at once I fell in love with her, for if it is sometimes enough to make us love a woman that she should look on us with contempt, as I supposed Mll..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca4/marcel-proust-114_admiration_and-at-once-i-fell-in-love-with-her-for_2295079.jpg" --- # And at once I fell in love with her, for if it is… ![“And at once I fell in love with her, for if it is sometimes enough to make us love a woman that she should look on us with contempt, as I supposed Mlle Swann to have done, and that we should think that she can never be ours, sometimes, too, it is enough that she should look on us kindly, as Mme de…” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca4/marcel-proust-114_admiration_and-at-once-i-fell-in-love-with-her-for_2295079.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca4/marcel-proust-114_admiration_and-at-once-i-fell-in-love-with-her-for_2295079.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca4/marcel-proust-114_admiration_and-at-once-i-fell-in-love-with-her-for_2295079.jpg) > ““And at once I fell in love with her, for if it is sometimes enough to make us love a woman that she should look on us with contempt, as I supposed Mlle Swann to have done, and that we should think that she can never be ours, sometimes, too, it is enough that she should look on us kindly, as Mme de Guermantes was doing, and that we should think of her as almost ours already.”” [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. She wonders if love can be both distant and kind, reflecting on desire, rejection, and imagined intimacy. **In simple terms:** Love can be both distant and kind. Key Takeaway Accept love’s paradoxes. Themes love desire rejection Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - relationship counseling - creative writing - self‑reflection - literary analysis Key Concepts psychology romantic idealism Questions to Reflect On - Do you seek love’s approval or its kindness? - How do you reconcile desire with possible rejection? A Different Perspective Idealizing love may ignore reality; balance fantasy with truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Admiration](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/admiration/) [Affection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affection/) [Contempt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) ## Related quotes > [“it is sometimes enough to make us love a woman that she looks on us with contempt,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/it-is-sometimes-enough-to-make-us-love-a-woman-that-she-looks-on-us/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [ I'd never seen Marcello \[Mastroianni\] truly in love with a woman. I called him "the man who couldn't love." He was capable of enormous… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giovanna-cau/i-d-never-seen-marcello-mastroianni-truly-in-love-with-a-woman-i/) [Giovanna Cau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giovanna-cau/) > [I do not believe that I fell in love with a woman because I was abused.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-heche/i-do-not-believe-that-i-fell-in-love-with-a-woman-because-i-was-abused/) [Anne Heche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-heche/) > [“When we are in love with a woman we simply project on to her a state of our own soul; that consequently the important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/when-we-are-in-love-with-a-woman-we-simply-project-on-to-her-a-state/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [It's hard to love a woman and do anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/it-s-hard-to-love-a-woman-and-do-anything/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Are there many things in this cool-hearted world so utterly exquisite as the pure love of one woman for another woman?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-maclane/are-there-many-things-in-this-cool-hearted-world-so-utterly-exquisite/) [Mary MacLane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-maclane/) > [When a man of forty falls in love with a woman of twenty, it isn't her youth he is seeking but his own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lenore-coffee/when-a-man-of-forty-falls-in-love-with-a-woman-of-twenty-it-isn-t-her/) Lenore Coffee > [I think about you all the time. I think about you even when you're with me. I look at you and I can't stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/from-the-movie-duplicity/i-think-about-you-all-the-time-i-think-about-you-even-when-you-re/) From The Movie - Duplicity > [“However much you may fall in love, do not waste that love on a woman who is not considerate in return.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-rutherfurd/however-much-you-may-fall-in-love-do-not-waste-that-love-on-a-woman/) [Edward Rutherfurd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-rutherfurd/) > [Love is woman's business,and in "business" we all lay aside our natural weaknesses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-k-jerome/love-is-woman-s-business-and-in-business-we-all-lay-aside-our-natural/) [Jerome K. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-k-jerome/) > [Making love with a woman and sleeping with a woman are two separate passions, not merely different but opposite. Love does not make itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/making-love-with-a-woman-and-sleeping-with-a-woman-are-two-separate/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [I love to make love with the woman I am in love with, I love to love and be loved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/knobjock/i-love-to-make-love-with-the-woman-i-am-in-love-with-i-love-to-love/) Knobjock > [“Oh, my friend, when you love, love a woman whom you are sure that you can love always. Never forsake a woman.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/oh-my-friend-when-you-love-love-a-woman-whom-you-are-sure-that-you/) [Honoré de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [“A man thinks it quite natural that he should fall out of love with a woman, but it never strikes him for a moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/a-man-thinks-it-quite-natural-that-he-should-fall-out-of-love-with-a/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [The less we show our love to a woman, Or please her less, and neglect our duty, The more we trap and ruin her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pushkin/the-less-we-show-our-love-to-a-woman-or-please-her-less-and-neglect/) [Alexander Pushkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pushkin/) ## 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 Admiration quotes > [I have tremendous admiration for companies with the kind of pioneering spirit and innovation eBay has demonstrated from day one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonnie-hammer/i-have-tremendous-admiration-for-companies-with-the-kind-of/) [Bonnie Hammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonnie-hammer/) > [The older you've gotten, the more respect and admiration you've received.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jupp-heynckes/the-older-you-ve-gotten-the-more-respect-and-admiration-you-ve/) [Jupp Heynckes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jupp-heynckes/) > [I still don't feel I know Hitchcock at all. 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