--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: His nature was really like a sheet of…" description: "\"“His nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been folded so often in every direction that it is impossible to straighten it out.”\" — Marcel Pr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb5/marcel-proust-114_folded_his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-pa_844848.jpg" --- # His nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been… ![“His nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been folded so often in every direction that it is impossible to straighten it out.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb5/marcel-proust-114_folded_his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-pa_844848.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb5/marcel-proust-114_folded_his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-pa_844848.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb5/marcel-proust-114_folded_his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-pa_844848.jpg) > ““His nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been folded so often in every direction that it is impossible to straighten it out.”” [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. He likens a person’s nature to a heavily folded sheet, suggesting complexity and difficulty in understanding. **In simple terms:** A person can become so complex they cannot be straightened. Key Takeaway Accept that some personalities are inherently intricate. Themes psychology complexity human nature Mood introspective analytical Type literary psychological When to use this quote - therapy - relationship counseling - character analysis Key Concepts identity self‑perception Questions to Reflect On - How do you untangle complex behaviors? - Can people change their 'folded' nature? A Different Perspective Complexity may mask underlying simplicity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Folded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folded/) [Folded Direction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folded-direction-683299/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Paper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paper/) [Paper Folded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paper-folded-683298/) [Sheet Paper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sheet-paper-359131/) [Sodom-and-gomorrah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sodom-and-gomorrah-173500/) ## Related quotes > [ “His \[Morel's\] nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been folded so often in every direction that it is impossible to… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/his-morel-s-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-paper-that-has-been/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“The paper was folded twice without a speck on it and bore a note in his handwriting: I cannot go on any longer. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/per-petterson/the-paper-was-folded-twice-without-a-speck-on-it-and-bore-a-note-in/) [Per Petterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/per-petterson/) > [“I began to see all of this, and the beauty of clinging to one another, and my life was a sheet of paper being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-t-wierenga/i-began-to-see-all-of-this-and-the-beauty-of-clinging-to-one-another/) [Emily T. Wierenga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-t-wierenga/) > [“computer paper folded”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-child/computer-paper-folded/) [Lee Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-child/) > [“the rule among the human race—a rule that naturally admits of exceptions—is that the reputedly hard are the weak whom nobody wanted, and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-rule-among-the-human-race-a-rule-that-naturally-admits-of/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“So, once more, the question is: Does the Bible forbid homosexual behavior? Well, I’ve already said that it does. The Bible is so realistic!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-lane-craig/so-once-more-the-question-is-does-the-bible-forbid-homosexual/) [William Lane Craig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-lane-craig/) > [“Extermination of city could be prevented by presence of a few who have faith of God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/extermination-of-city-could-be-prevented-by-presence-of-a-few-who/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [“I take a sheet of paper from he stack and run my fingers over its surface. It's smooth, because it's never been used. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-hill/i-take-a-sheet-of-paper-from-he-stack-and-run-my-fingers-over-its/) [Will Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-hill/) > [“What are you doing?" "I'm putting them into the envelopes, just like you asked." "Fold them hot dog style so they fit." "Fold them-…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-allison-moulton/what-are-you-doing-i-m-putting-them-into-the-envelopes-just-like-you/) [Courtney Allison Moulton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-allison-moulton/) > [The mind has been likened to a piece of paper that has been folded. Ever afterwards it has a tendency to fold in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-walker-atkinson/the-mind-has-been-likened-to-a-piece-of-paper-that-has-been-folded/) [William Walker Atkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-walker-atkinson/) > [Morning is a new sheet of paper for you to write on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eve-merriam/morning-is-a-new-sheet-of-paper-for-you-to-write-on/) [Eve Merriam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eve-merriam/) > [The most terrifying thing in my life is a blank sheet of paper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ayer/the-most-terrifying-thing-in-my-life-is-a-blank-sheet-of-paper/) [David Ayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ayer/) > [I feel much safer faced with a blank sheet of paper than I do with a real person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/selima-hill/i-feel-much-safer-faced-with-a-blank-sheet-of-paper-than-i-do-with-a/) [Selima Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/selima-hill/) > [“He took a sheet of paper out of a desk drawer. But what would he write? The day’s work had hardly involved more than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henning-mankell/he-took-a-sheet-of-paper-out-of-a-desk-drawer-but-what-would-he-write/) [Henning Mankell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henning-mankell/) > [“He scowled at the typewriter, at the empty sheet of paper.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bodie-thoene/he-scowled-at-the-typewriter-at-the-empty-sheet-of-paper/) [Bodie Thoene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bodie-thoene/) ## 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 Folded quotes > [I do not want to be folded for where I am folded, there I am a lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/i-do-not-want-to-be-folded-for-where-i-am-folded-there-i-am-a-lie/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“It may have been just another night to all the people I saw rushing past my left and my right... but my hand was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfa-h/it-may-have-been-just-another-night-to-all-the-people-i-saw-rushing/) [Alfa H](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfa-h/) > [“Folded arms can’t fly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-barnes-sr/folded-arms-can-t-fly/) [Seth Barnes, Sr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-barnes-sr/) > [“Everywhere I am folded, there I am a lie.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/everywhere-i-am-folded-there-i-am-a-lie/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [My first course came and I put down my book, and I just happened to put up my hand to scratch my head and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-jacobi/my-first-course-came-and-i-put-down-my-book-and-i-just-happened-to/) [Derek Jacobi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-jacobi/) > [A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/a-rose-with-all-its-sweetest-leaves-yet-folded/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [Books are carefully folded forests/void of autumn/bound from the sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-williams/books-are-carefully-folded-forests-void-of-autumn-bound-from-the-sun/) [Saul Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-williams/) > [Nobody pays attention to the way a person's shirt folds around his shoulder when they sit down, but if that shirt folded in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lasseter/nobody-pays-attention-to-the-way-a-person-s-shirt-folds-around-his/) [John Lasseter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lasseter/) > [There is something in me maybe someday to be written; now it is folded, and folded, and folded, like a note in school.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-olds/there-is-something-in-me-maybe-someday-to-be-written-now-it-is-folded/) [Sharon Olds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-olds/) > [“The paper was folded twice without a speck on it and bore a note in his handwriting: I cannot go on any longer. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/per-petterson/the-paper-was-folded-twice-without-a-speck-on-it-and-bore-a-note-in/) [Per Petterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/per-petterson/) > [I remember going to L.A. and doing shows, and people would just stand there with their arms folded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pimp-c/i-remember-going-to-l-a-and-doing-shows-and-people-would-just-stand/) [Pimp C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pimp-c/) > [Alzheimer's disease starts when a protein that should be folded up properly misfolds into a kind of demented origami.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-petsko/alzheimer-s-disease-starts-when-a-protein-that-should-be-folded-up/) [Gregory Petsko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-petsko/) > [When I travel, I always take my Winsor & Newton watercolor kit, which is the size of a pack of cigarettes when folded up.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-minot/when-i-travel-i-always-take-my-winsor-newton-watercolor-kit-which-is/) [Susan Minot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-minot/) > [When I'm looking at shirts in the clothes section of a store, I unfold them. Since I've never known how to fold them as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guardian/when-i-m-looking-at-shirts-in-the-clothes-section-of-a-store-i-unfold/) [Guardian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guardian/) > [“How could I not be in love with a man who folded something after strangling me with it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-castle/how-could-i-not-be-in-love-with-a-man-who-folded-something-after/) [Nicole Castle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-castle/) [Browse all 53 Folded quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folded/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“His nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been folded so often in every direction that it is impossible to straighten it out.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-paper-that-has-been-folded-so/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Folded" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-paper-that-has-been-folded-so/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb5/marcel-proust-114_folded_his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-pa_844848.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb5/marcel-proust-114_folded_his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-pa_844848.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb5/marcel-proust-114_folded_his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-pa_844848.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“His nature was really like a sheet of paper that has been folded so often in every direction that it is…” — 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": "“His nature was really like a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-paper-that-has-been-folded-so/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/his-nature-was-really-like-a-sheet-of-paper-that-has-been-folded-so/#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 } } ] } ```