--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But,instead of what our imagination makes…" description: "\"But,instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and which we worthless try to discover,life gives us something that we could hardly imagine.\" — Ma..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/marcel-proust-114_giving_but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-make_839218.jpg" --- # But,instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and… ![“But,instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and which we worthless try to discover,life gives us something that we could hardly imagine.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/marcel-proust-114_giving_but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-make_839218.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/marcel-proust-114_giving_but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-make_839218.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/marcel-proust-114_giving_but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-make_839218.jpg) > “But,instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and which we worthless try to discover,life gives us something that we could hardly imagine.” [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. Life often offers unexpected gifts beyond our imagined possibilities. **In simple terms:** Life gives us unexpected gifts. Key Takeaway Embrace the unknown. Themes unexpectedity imagination life growth Mood reflective hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal crisis - creative pursuits - spiritual awakening Key Concepts existentialism serendipity human experience Questions to Reflect On - What unexpected gift have you ignored? - How can you open yourself to surprise? A Different Perspective Our expectations can limit perception of reality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Discover Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discover-life-373781/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Hardly Imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hardly-imagine-627038/) [Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination/) [Imagination Makes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination-makes-627039/) [Imagine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagine/) [Instead Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instead-imagination-627037/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Worthless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worthless/) ## Related quotes > [We were alone. Where, I could not say, hardly imagine. All was black, and such a dense black that, after some minutes, my eyes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jules-verne/we-were-alone-where-i-could-not-say-hardly-imagine-all-was-black-and/) [Jules Verne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jules-verne/) > [“Beings we can hardly imagine or understand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kat-beyer/beings-we-can-hardly-imagine-or-understand/) [Kat Beyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kat-beyer/) > [One can hardly imagine a more healthful employment, or one more favorable to contemplation and the observation of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/one-can-hardly-imagine-a-more-healthful-employment-or-one-more/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Your understanding of a place changes the longer you stay; you discover more, and your own life gets woven into the fabric of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-edwards/your-understanding-of-a-place-changes-the-longer-you-stay-you/) [Kim Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-edwards/) > [“Who really knows what they are or what they may become? We learn about ourselves as we do things. We discover what we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-l-forman/who-really-knows-what-they-are-or-what-they-may-become-we-learn-about/) [M. L. Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-l-forman/) > [One thing you will discover is that life is based less than you think on what you’ve learned and much more than you think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-helprin/one-thing-you-will-discover-is-that-life-is-based-less-than-you-think-2/) [Mark Helprin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-helprin/) > [When we enter the present moment deeply, our regrets and sorrows disappear, and we discover life with all its wonders.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nhat-hanh/when-we-enter-the-present-moment-deeply-our-regrets-and-sorrows/) [Nhat Hanh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nhat-hanh/) > [“As you lose yourself in the service of others, you discover your own life and your own happiness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dieter-f-uchtdorf/as-you-lose-yourself-in-the-service-of-others-you-discover-your-own/) [Dieter F. Uchtdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dieter-f-uchtdorf/) > [“One thing you will discover is that life is based less than you think on what you've learned and much more than you think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-helprin/one-thing-you-will-discover-is-that-life-is-based-less-than-you-think/) [Mark Helprin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-helprin/) > [“I want to discover... what I can do with my life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuki-midorikawa/i-want-to-discover-what-i-can-do-with-my-life/) [Yuki Midorikawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuki-midorikawa/) > [We all suffer but we recover, Just to discover life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raghav-singh/we-all-suffer-but-we-recover-just-to-discover-life/) [Raghav Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raghav-singh/) > [It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/it-takes-half-your-life-before-you-discover-life-is-a-do-it-yourself/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [“Before you can discover your life’s Purpose, you must separate from your comfortable and ordinary world. Then we will initiate you into a new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mastin-kipp/before-you-can-discover-your-life-s-purpose-you-must-separate-from/) [Mastin Kipp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mastin-kipp/) > [“Discover what you could do with your life and empower yourself in that area. Add value to yourself in that your area of calling.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/discover-what-you-could-do-with-your-life-and-empower-yourself-in/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“Your journey through life and self-discovery is much like the start of a new day. As you grow, develop, and reinvent yourself, the tendrils…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-narofsky/your-journey-through-life-and-self-discovery-is-much-like-the-start/) [Thomas Narofsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-narofsky/) ## 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 Giving quotes > [Only within yourself exists the other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/only-within-yourself-exists-the-other-reality-for-which-you-long-i/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [The only people who think the Internet is a calamity are people whose lives have been hurt by it; the only people who insist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-klosterman/the-only-people-who-think-the-internet-is-a-calamity-are-people-whose/) [Chuck Klosterman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-klosterman/) > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Crony capitalism is essentially a condition in which... public officials are giving favours to people in the private sector in payment of political favours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/crony-capitalism-is-essentially-a-condition-in-which-public-officials/) [Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/) > [Some people give you that motivation to work harder simply to get the hell away from wherever they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dane-cook/some-people-give-you-that-motivation-to-work-harder-simply-to-get-the/) [Dane Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dane-cook/) > [You've touched people and known it. You've touched people and never may know it. Either way, you have something to give. It is in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-schlessinger/you-ve-touched-people-and-known-it-you-ve-touched-people-and-never/) [Laura Schlessinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-schlessinger/) > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... That's my lifeblood. And to give that up for, like, the TV, the cars,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/i-understand-that-it-s-the-music-that-keeps-me-alive-that-s-my/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [I received a beautiful welcome to the world of music. I want to give something back to the younger generation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luciano-pavarotti/i-received-a-beautiful-welcome-to-the-world-of-music-i-want-to-give/) [Luciano Pavarotti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luciano-pavarotti/) > [Eternal Trinity... mystery deep as the sea, You could give me no greater gift than the gift of Yourself. For You are a fire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-catherine-of-siena/eternal-trinity-mystery-deep-as-the-sea-you-could-give-me-no-greater/) [St. Catherine of Siena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-catherine-of-siena/) > [Faith gives you a certain structure and meaning to your life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/riffat-hassan/faith-gives-you-a-certain-structure-and-meaning-to-your-life/) [Riffat Hassan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/riffat-hassan/) > [Grandma, please. It’s okay. Dad’s doing a great job. I give him kudos for at least being calm and rational, and not losing his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/grandma-please-it-s-okay-dad-s-doing-a-great-job-i-give-him-kudos-for/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [Most paper money initially existed as a substitute for gold. That's what gave it value. But right now what gives a currency value is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-schiff/most-paper-money-initially-existed-as-a-substitute-for-gold-that-s/) [Peter Schiff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-schiff/) > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [Give me strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/black-elk/give-me-strength-to-walk-the-soft-earth-a-relative-to-all-that-is/) [Black Elk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/black-elk/) > [I don't think my relationship with the idea of womanhood is that attached to giving birth... like, I'm fully aware that I'll never give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patti-harrison/i-don-t-think-my-relationship-with-the-idea-of-womanhood-is-that/) [Patti Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patti-harrison/) [Browse all 39,303 Giving quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But,instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and which we worthless try to discover,life gives us something that we could hardly imagine.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-makes-us-suppose-and-which-we/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Giving" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-makes-us-suppose-and-which-we/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/marcel-proust-114_giving_but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-make_839218.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/marcel-proust-114_giving_but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-make_839218.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/marcel-proust-114_giving_but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-make_839218.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But,instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and which we worthless try to discover,life gives us…” — 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": "But,instead of what our imagination makes...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-makes-us-suppose-and-which-we/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-instead-of-what-our-imagination-makes-us-suppose-and-which-we/#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 } } ] } ```