--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Do you know, master book-lover,” he asked…" description: "\"“Do you know, master book-lover,” he asked me, “this line of Paul Desjardins? Now are the woods all black, but still the sky is blue. Is not that a fin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/marcel-proust-114_blue-sky_do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-m_2655728.jpg" --- # Do you know, master book-lover,” he asked me, “this line… ![“Do you know, master book-lover,” he asked me, “this line of Paul Desjardins? Now are the woods all black, but still the sky is blue. Is not that a fine rendering of a moment like this? Perhaps you have never read Paul Desjardins. Read him, my boy, read him; in these days he is converted, they tell…” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/marcel-proust-114_blue-sky_do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-m_2655728.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/marcel-proust-114_blue-sky_do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-m_2655728.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/marcel-proust-114_blue-sky_do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-m_2655728.jpg) > ““Do you know, master book-lover,” he asked me, “this line of Paul Desjardins? Now are the woods all black, but still the sky is blue. Is not that a fine rendering of a moment like this? Perhaps you have never read Paul Desjardins. Read him, my boy, read him; in these days he is converted, they tell me, into a preaching friar, but he used to have the most charming water-colour touch — Now are the woods all black, but still the sky is blue. May you always see a blue sky overhead, my young friend; and then, even when the time comes, which is coming now for me, when the woods are all black, when night is fast falling, you will be able to console yourself, as I am doing, by looking up to the sky.” He took a cigarette from his pocket and stood for a long time, his eyes fixed on the horizon.”” [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. Even in darkest moments, hope persists symbolized by an unchanged blue sky, offering comfort and perspective. **In simple terms:** Hope remains despite darkness. Key Takeaway Seek the sky’s constancy in hardship. Themes hope resilience perspective Mood reflective comforting Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - grief - nighttime anxiety - personal loss - consolation Key Concepts existentialism symbolism comfort Questions to Reflect On - How can you remind yourself of enduring hope? - What sky symbolize for you in tough times? A Different Perspective Hope may feel abstract when suffering is intense. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Black Sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-sky-668031/) [Blue sky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blue-sky/) [Desjardins Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desjardins-read-2386440/) [Desjardins Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desjardins-woods-2386441/) [Long time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long-time/) [Sky Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sky-blue/) ## Related quotes > [Now are the woods all black, But still the sky is blue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/now-are-the-woods-all-black-but-still-the-sky-is-blue/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“156. Why is the sky blue? -A fair enough question, and one I have learned the answer to several times. Yet every time I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-nelson/156-why-is-the-sky-blue-a-fair-enough-question-and-one-i-have-learned/) [Maggie Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-nelson/) > [It's like my having to walk down thousands and thousands of white marble stairs...and nothing but a very very blue sky, very blue...and I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edie-sedgwick/it-s-like-my-having-to-walk-down-thousands-and-thousands-of-white/) [Edie Sedgwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edie-sedgwick/) > [There is silver blue, sky blue and thunder blue. Every colour holds within it a soul, which makes me happy or repels me, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emil-nolde/there-is-silver-blue-sky-blue-and-thunder-blue-every-colour-holds/) [Emil Nolde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emil-nolde/) > [“She clapped her hands and murmured, "Blue sky, blue eyes," as if it amused her. 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I made it that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-easton-ellis/look-how-black-the-sky-is-the-writer-said-i-made-it-that-way/) [Bret Easton Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-easton-ellis/) > [“There’s something tragic about the way the moonlight hits her. It’s like tonight is hers. The black sky looking down and shaking its head.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-abbott/there-s-something-tragic-about-the-way-the-moonlight-hits-her-it-s/) [Daniel Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-abbott/) > [“I put back my head, looking up at the deep black sky swimming with hot stars. If you knew they were really balls of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/i-put-back-my-head-looking-up-at-the-deep-black-sky-swimming-with-hot/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [It's such a lonely way. This one'll be black. The jet black always in the sky. It reflects hatred in my eyes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/children-of-bodom/it-s-such-a-lonely-way-this-one-ll-be-black-the-jet-black-always-in/) [Children Of Bodom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/children-of-bodom/) > [Somebody said you got a new friend. Does she love you better than I can? There's a big black sky over my town. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn/somebody-said-you-got-a-new-friend-does-she-love-you-better-than-i/) [Robyn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robyn/) ## 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 Blue sky quotes > [Summer explodes into Portland. In early June the heat was there but not the color--the green were still pale and tentative, the morning had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/summer-explodes-into-portland-in-early-june-the-heat-was-there-but/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [My beloved like a jewel on my crown, In my vast and blue sky you are like a full-moon. 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Read him, my boy, read him; in these days he is converted, they tell me, into a preaching friar, but he used to have the most charming water-colour touch — Now are the woods all black, but still the sky is blue. May you always see a blue sky overhead, my young friend; and then, even when the time comes, which is coming now for me, when the woods are all black, when night is fast falling, you will be able to console yourself, as I am doing, by looking up to the sky.” He took a cigarette from his pocket and stood for a long time, his eyes fixed on the horizon.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-me-this-line-of-paul/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Blue sky" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-me-this-line-of-paul/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/marcel-proust-114_blue-sky_do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-m_2655728.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/marcel-proust-114_blue-sky_do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-m_2655728.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/655/marcel-proust-114_blue-sky_do-you-know-master-book-lover-he-asked-m_2655728.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Do you know, master book-lover,” he asked me, “this line of Paul Desjardins? 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