--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But one never finds a cathedral, a wave…" description: "\"“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 expecting;”\" — Marcel Proust" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/454/marcel-proust-114_dance_but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-i_854418.jpg" --- # But one never finds a cathedral, a wave in a storm, a… ![“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 expecting;” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/454/marcel-proust-114_dance_but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-i_854418.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/454/marcel-proust-114_dance_but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-i_854418.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/454/marcel-proust-114_dance_but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-i_854418.jpg) > ““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 expecting;”” [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. The quote reflects that reality often falls short of our lofty expectations, especially in moments of awe. **In simple terms:** Expectations exceed reality; disappointment follows. Key Takeaway Adjust expectations to avoid disillusionment. Themes expectation disappointment reality artistic ideal Mood reflective melancholic inspirational Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal goals - artistic projects - travel plans - relationship hopes Key Concepts philosophical reflection human experience creative aspiration Questions to Reflect On - What can we learn from unmet expectations? - How do we maintain hope after disappointment? A Different Perspective It may ignore the value of striving for excellence despite possible letdown. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance/) [Dancer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dancer/) [Disappointment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disappointment/) [Expectations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expectations/) ## Related quotes > [A cathedral, a wave of a storm, a dancer's leap, never turn out to be as high as we had hoped.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-cathedral-a-wave-of-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-never-turn-out-to-be-as/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [One of my favorite moments is onstage, when you see a dancer leap, and you think they're flying, and then they fall. It's that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-blanchett/one-of-my-favorite-moments-is-onstage-when-you-see-a-dancer-leap-and/) [Cate Blanchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-blanchett/) > [I was a litigation lawyer, working in downtown Toronto. I was successful, yet I was very unfulfilled. I had the sense that I really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robin-s-sharma/i-was-a-litigation-lawyer-working-in-downtown-toronto-i-was/) [Robin S. Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robin-s-sharma/) > [Over 90% of people go home at the end of the day feeling unfulfilled by their work, and I won't stop working until that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-sinek/over-90-of-people-go-home-at-the-end-of-the-day-feeling-unfulfilled/) [Simon Sinek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-sinek/) > [So much of the deep lingering sadness over President Kennedy's assassination is about the unfinished promise: unspoken speeches, unfulfilled hopes, the wondering about what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marian-wright-edelman/so-much-of-the-deep-lingering-sadness-over-president-kennedy-s/) [Marian Wright Edelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marian-wright-edelman/) > [“The seeds of unfulfilled careers can sometimes be sown in mean-spirited teaching.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-harris/the-seeds-of-unfulfilled-careers-can-sometimes-be-sown-in-mean/) [Paul Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-harris/) > [“we feel unfulfilled when there is a gap between what is most important to us (the realm of personal leadership) and what we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zondervan-publishing/we-feel-unfulfilled-when-there-is-a-gap-between-what-is-most/) [Zondervan Publishing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zondervan-publishing/) > [“Madness is the result of unfulfilled wishes”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bano-qudsiyah/madness-is-the-result-of-unfulfilled-wishes/) [Bano Qudsiyah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bano-qudsiyah/) > [It would be difficult to have any unfulfilled ambitions because I don't have any ambitions. I've never been that kind of performer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hurt/it-would-be-difficult-to-have-any-unfulfilled-ambitions-because-i-don/) [John Hurt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hurt/) > [“unfulfilled dreams only become unnecessary regrets!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-oy/unfulfilled-dreams-only-become-unnecessary-regrets/) Andrew Oyé > [In one way, it's a relief I know I'll never have another child. I don't live with the sorrow I had when it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-redman/in-one-way-it-s-a-relief-i-know-i-ll-never-have-another-child-i-don-t/) [Amanda Redman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-redman/) > [Each life unfulfilled, you see; It hangs still, patchy and scrappy: We have not sighed deep, laughed free, Starved, feasted, despaired,—been happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-browning/each-life-unfulfilled-you-see-it-hangs-still-patchy-and-scrappy-we/) [Robert Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-browning/) > [The promise of equal educational opportunity envisioned by the Brown decision remains unfulfilled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby-scott/the-promise-of-equal-educational-opportunity-envisioned-by-the-brown/) [Bobby Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby-scott/) > [All those promises Unfulfilled dreams They all left with you Nothing is left here except Grey skies, dying trees Poor disabled time Darkness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-kler/all-those-promises-unfulfilled-dreams-they-all-left-with-you-nothing/) [Nick Kler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-kler/) > [As an actor, you just want to continue to work on things that you like. You can be in this business a long time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-colter/as-an-actor-you-just-want-to-continue-to-work-on-things-that-you-like/) [Mike Colter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-colter/) ## 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 Dance quotes > [When you go to a club it's not about being black or white or heavy or thick. I'm shaking my ass because I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miley-cyrus/when-you-go-to-a-club-it-s-not-about-being-black-or-white-or-heavy-or/) [Miley Cyrus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miley-cyrus/) > [Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/sing-like-no-one-s-listening-love-like-you-ve-never-been-hurt-dance/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [I make dance music because I love to dance. But I want to think at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stromae/i-make-dance-music-because-i-love-to-dance-but-i-want-to-think-at-the/) [Stromae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stromae/) > [I studied all kinds of dance, all types of music. I got good grades. I started hitting the recording studio around 13.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-derulo/i-studied-all-kinds-of-dance-all-types-of-music-i-got-good-grades-i/) [Jason Derulo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-derulo/) > [I like Sam Smith and Taylor Swift. I love pop music, but I also like Sam Smith's slow songs. That would be more to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maddie-ziegler/i-like-sam-smith-and-taylor-swift-i-love-pop-music-but-i-also-like/) [Maddie Ziegler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maddie-ziegler/) > [I think it's useful to experience other types of dance and other cultures, and the life of a classical dancer these days is certainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-bull/i-think-it-s-useful-to-experience-other-types-of-dance-and-other/) [Deborah Bull](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-bull/) > [Everything in dancing is style, allusion, the essence of many thoughts and feelings. The abstraction of many moments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alvin-ailey/everything-in-dancing-is-style-allusion-the-essence-of-many-thoughts/) [Alvin Ailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alvin-ailey/) > [I worked a lot in Chicago's theater scene as a fight choreographer. And so I do have a lot of experience in stage combat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-offerman/i-worked-a-lot-in-chicago-s-theater-scene-as-a-fight-choreographer/) [Nick Offerman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-offerman/) > [“dances with mine as if we’ve been doing this our whole”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corinne-michaels/dances-with-mine-as-if-we-ve-been-doing-this-our-whole/) [Corinne Michaels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corinne-michaels/) > [My body was so instrumental to how I took pictures: it was practically a dance. I used to use my legs a lot; now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-leibovitz/my-body-was-so-instrumental-to-how-i-took-pictures-it-was-practically/) [Annie Leibovitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-leibovitz/) > [I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/i-would-rather-learn-from-one-bird-how-to-sing-than-to-teach-10-000/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [If you dance, you dance because you have to. Every dancer hurts, you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-dunham/if-you-dance-you-dance-because-you-have-to-every-dancer-hurts-you-know/) [Katherine Dunham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-dunham/) > [I'm not a dancer. Never took a dance class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chrishell-stause/i-m-not-a-dancer-never-took-a-dance-class/) [Chrishell Stause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chrishell-stause/) > [Being fit is the easiest part of being a dance professional. I used to just throw on a backpack full of rocks and run…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-du-beke/being-fit-is-the-easiest-part-of-being-a-dance-professional-i-used-to/) [Anton du Beke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-du-beke/) > [I'm a horrible dancer, but I wanted to record songs that made me want to dance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-lane/i-m-a-horrible-dancer-but-i-wanted-to-record-songs-that-made-me-want/) [Chris Lane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-lane/) [Browse all 9,682 Dance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“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 expecting;”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-in-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-in/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-in-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-in/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/454/marcel-proust-114_dance_but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-i_854418.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/454/marcel-proust-114_dance_but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-i_854418.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/454/marcel-proust-114_dance_but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-i_854418.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“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…” — 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 one never finds a cathedral,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-in-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-in/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-one-never-finds-a-cathedral-a-wave-in-a-storm-a-dancer-s-leap-in/#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 } } ] } ```