--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Gilberte belonged, during those years at…" description: "\"“Gilberte belonged, during those years at least, to the most widespread variety of human ostriches, the kind that bury their heads not in the hope of n..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da0/marcel-proust-114_hope_gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at_1766078.jpg" --- # Gilberte belonged, during those years at least, to the… ![“Gilberte belonged, during those years at least, to the most widespread variety of human ostriches, the kind that bury their heads not in the hope of not being seen, which they consider highly improbable, but in the hope of not seeing that they can be seen, which seems to them something to the good…” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da0/marcel-proust-114_hope_gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at_1766078.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da0/marcel-proust-114_hope_gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at_1766078.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da0/marcel-proust-114_hope_gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at_1766078.jpg) > ““Gilberte belonged, during those years at least, to the most widespread variety of human ostriches, the kind that bury their heads not in the hope of not being seen, which they consider highly improbable, but in the hope of not seeing that they can be seen, which seems to them something to the good and enables them to leave the rest to chance.”” [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. People sometimes avoid confronting reality by pretending they are unseen, hoping ignorance will protect them, which leads to neglecting responsibility. **In simple terms:** Avoiding truth to stay comfortable. Key Takeaway Face reality rather than hide. Themes self‑deception avoidance responsibility Mood reflective somber Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal relationships - workplace dynamics - public scrutiny - media narratives Key Concepts psychology social behavior denial Questions to Reflect On - What truths are you avoiding? - How does denial affect your decisions? A Different Perspective Denial can worsen problems instead of solving them. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) [Gilberte Belonged](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gilberte-belonged-1737223/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Human Ostriches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-ostriches-1737225/) [Ostriches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ostriches/) [Ostriches Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ostriches-kind-1737224/) [Variety Human](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/variety-human-1037103/) ## Related quotes > [“Given the infinite variety of human personalities, it was impossible to like everyone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-mccaffrey/given-the-infinite-variety-of-human-personalities-it-was-impossible/) [Anne McCaffrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-mccaffrey/) > [“The infinite variety of human badness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-franzen/the-infinite-variety-of-human-badness/) [Jonathan Franzen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-franzen/) > [On buses and trains, I always think about the inexhaustible variety of human genes. 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Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [You might be a redneck if a full-grown ostrich has fewer feathers than your cowboy hat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-foxworthy/you-might-be-a-redneck-if-a-full-grown-ostrich-has-fewer-feathers/) [Jeff Foxworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-foxworthy/) > [I will endanger your species like an ostrich, Hold you hostage, and crazy feed you swine sausage!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/busta-rhymes/i-will-endanger-your-species-like-an-ostrich-hold-you-hostage-and/) [Busta Rhymes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/busta-rhymes/) > [Gentlemen, as sure as I'm sitting here now, the result of continuation of a non-system, the ostrich-like head-in-the-sand attitude, the constant rejection of any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dianne-feinstein/gentlemen-as-sure-as-i-m-sitting-here-now-the-result-of-continuation/) [Dianne Feinstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dianne-feinstein/) > [Don't be more serious than God. God invented dog farts. God designed your body's plumbing system. God designed an ostrich. If He didn't do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-kreeft/don-t-be-more-serious-than-god-god-invented-dog-farts-god-designed/) [Peter Kreeft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-kreeft/) > [“I am she who lifts the mountains When she goes to hunt, Who wears mamba for a headband And a lion for a belt.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-farmer/i-am-she-who-lifts-the-mountains-when-she-goes-to-hunt-who-wears/) [Nancy Farmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-farmer/) > [Madness is the WHO staring into the abyss and denying it is there. Madness is an ostrich who sticks her head in the sand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/madness-is-the-who-staring-into-the-abyss-and-denying-it-is-there/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) > [I have eyes like a bullfrog, a neck like an ostrich and long, limp hair. 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The absence of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/ostrich-n-a-large-bird-to-which-for-its-sins-doubtless-nature-has/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [America cannot be an ostrich with its head in the sand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woodrow-wilson/america-cannot-be-an-ostrich-with-its-head-in-the-sand/) [Woodrow Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woodrow-wilson/) ## 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 Animal quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. 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He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/when-grubbing-for-necessities-man-is-still-an-animal-he-becomes/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [I'm 38 and I'm single, and I'm having my most intense and gratifying relationship with a dog. 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The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. 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Francione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-l-francione/) [Browse all 13,456 Animal quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animal/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Gilberte belonged, during those years at least, to the most widespread variety of human ostriches, the kind that bury their heads not in the hope of not being seen, which they consider highly improbable, but in the hope of not seeing that they can be seen, which seems to them something to the good and enables them to leave the rest to chance.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at-least-to-the-most-widespread/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Animal" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at-least-to-the-most-widespread/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da0/marcel-proust-114_hope_gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at_1766078.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da0/marcel-proust-114_hope_gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at_1766078.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/da0/marcel-proust-114_hope_gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at_1766078.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Gilberte belonged, during those years at least, to the most widespread variety of human ostriches, the kind…” — 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": "“Gilberte belonged, during those years at...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at-least-to-the-most-widespread/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/gilberte-belonged-during-those-years-at-least-to-the-most-widespread/#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 } } ] } ```