---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I could believe this all the more readily…"
description: "\"“I could believe this all the more readily (and also that the caresses by which she would bring that savour to my senses were themselves of a particula..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c64/marcel-proust-114_life_i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readil_1045862.jpg"
---

#  I could believe this all the more readily (and also that…

![“I could believe this all the more readily (and also that the caresses by which she would bring that savour to my senses were themselves of a particular kind, yielding a pleasure which I could never derive from any but herself) since I was still, and must for long remain, in that period of life…” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c64/marcel-proust-114_life_i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readil_1045862.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c64/marcel-proust-114_life_i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readil_1045862.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c64/marcel-proust-114_life_i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readil_1045862.jpg)

> ““I could believe this all the more readily (and also that the caresses by which she would bring that savour to my senses were themselves of a particular kind, yielding a pleasure which I could never derive from any but herself) since I was still, and must for long remain, in that period of life when one has not yet separated the fact of this sensual pleasure from the various women in whose company one has tasted it, when one has not reduced it to a general idea which makes one regard them thenceforward as the variable instruments of a pleasure that is always the same.””

[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 reflects on youthful sensual pleasure, noting it feels unique to each woman and cannot be generalized into a single concept.

**In simple terms:** Early sensual experiences are uniquely tied to each person.

Key Takeaway

Recognize the individuality of pleasure.

Themes

love sensuality memory identity

Mood

melancholic introspective

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- romantic relationships
- self‑reflection
- artistic creation

Key Concepts

subjective experience psychology of desire nostalgia

Questions to Reflect On

- How does personal memory shape our perception of love?
- Can we ever truly separate sensation from the person?

A Different Perspective

Such idealization may overlook broader emotional complexities.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Sensual pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensual-pleasure/)

## Related quotes

> [Art is an attempt to understand, yielding pleasure in the attempt whether or not we understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-breault/art-is-an-attempt-to-understand-yielding-pleasure-in-the-attempt/)

[Robert Breault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-breault/)

> [“in that period of life when one has not yet separated the fact of this sensual pleasure from the various women in whose company…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/in-that-period-of-life-when-one-has-not-yet-separated-the-fact-of/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [When the cup of any sensual pleasure is drained to the bottom, there is always poison in the dregs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-porter/when-the-cup-of-any-sensual-pleasure-is-drained-to-the-bottom-there/)

[Jane Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-porter/)

> [What is called a high standard of living consists, in considerable measure, in arrangements for avoiding muscular energy, for increasing sensual pleasure and enhancing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/what-is-called-a-high-standard-of-living-consists-in-considerable/)

[John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/)

> [“Sandrine opened her eyes to the soft gray light of early dawn. Recollections of sensual pleasure seemed to caress her body, bringing a smile…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-a-myers/sandrine-opened-her-eyes-to-the-soft-gray-light-of-early-dawn/)

[Paul A. Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-a-myers/)

> [Men who could willingly resign the luxuries and sensual pleasures of a large fortune cannot consent to live without the grandeur and the homage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/men-who-could-willingly-resign-the-luxuries-and-sensual-pleasures-of/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [Melancholy is a sensual pleasure that is deliberately provoked. How many people shut themselves away to make themselves sadder, or to weep beside a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/melancholy-is-a-sensual-pleasure-that-is-deliberately-provoked-how/)

[Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/)

> [I remember when my mother taught me about my menstrual cycle and pregnancy. She, like millions of other mothers before and since, did not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christiane-northrup/i-remember-when-my-mother-taught-me-about-my-menstrual-cycle-and/)

[Christiane Northrup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christiane-northrup/)

> [“—that exquisite sensual pleasure of collectors, who are a tactile species—”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/that-exquisite-sensual-pleasure-of-collectors-who-are-a-tactile/)

[Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/)

> [At the movies, we are gradually being conditioned to accept violence as a sensual pleasure. The directors used to say they were showing us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-kael/at-the-movies-we-are-gradually-being-conditioned-to-accept-violence/)

[Pauline Kael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-kael/)

> [“There was no way he was going to… But that was exactly what he did. I gasped when I felt his tongue tentatively flick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sloane-kennedy/there-was-no-way-he-was-going-to-but-that-was-exactly-what-he-did-i/)

[Sloane Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sloane-kennedy/)

> [All history attests that man has subjected woman to his will, used her as a means to promote his selfish gratification, to minister to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-moore-grimke/all-history-attests-that-man-has-subjected-woman-to-his-will-used-her/)

[Sarah Moore Grimke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-moore-grimke/)

> [Did I feel a physical desire for him? I did. Was I moved by a passion of my body? I was. Have I experienced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/did-i-feel-a-physical-desire-for-him-i-did-was-i-moved-by-a-passion/)

[Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/)

> [Real love is the love that sometimes arises after sensual pleasure: if it does, it is immortal; the other kind inevitably goes stale, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giacomo-casanova/real-love-is-the-love-that-sometimes-arises-after-sensual-pleasure-if/)

[Giacomo Casanova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giacomo-casanova/)

> [In politics continental Europe was infantile - horrifying. What America lacked, for all its political stability, was the capacity to enjoy intellectual pleasures as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saul-bellow/in-politics-continental-europe-was-infantile-horrifying-what-america/)

[Saul Bellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saul-bellow/)

## 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 Life quotes

> [Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/)

[Teddy Atlas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-atlas/)

> [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/)

[Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/)

> [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Life works most perfectly when a reciprocal love relationship is in place between man and God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/life-works-most-perfectly-when-a-reciprocal-love-relationship-is-in/)

[Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/)

> [I value the experiences that come with life too much to sit by and not put my full effort into them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-miller/i-value-the-experiences-that-come-with-life-too-much-to-sit-by-and/)

[Jim Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-miller/)

> [Entertainment is a sacred pursuit when done well. When done well, it raises the quality of human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/entertainment-is-a-sacred-pursuit-when-done-well-when-done-well-it/)

[Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/)

> [“There's more to life than you can see. Your sight is limited.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tammy-kling/there-s-more-to-life-than-you-can-see-your-sight-is-limited/)

[Tammy Kling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tammy-kling/)

> [“I've spent much of my life calling my intuition "something wrong with me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deanna-l-lawlis/i-ve-spent-much-of-my-life-calling-my-intuition-something-wrong-with/)

Deanna L. Lawlis

> [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/)

[Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/)

> [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/)

> [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/)

[Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/)

> [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life, and its countenance is irritating, repellent,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-future-is-only-an-indifferent-void-no-one-cares-about-but-the/)

[Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/)

> [Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-love/two-things-revolutionised-life-moving-to-the-countryside-and-falling/)

[Nick Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-love/)

> [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/)

[Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/)

[Browse all 265,290 Life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“I could believe this all the more readily (and also that the caresses by which she would bring that savour to my senses were themselves of a particular kind, yielding a pleasure which I could never derive from any but herself) since I was still, and must for long remain, in that period of life when one has not yet separated the fact of this sensual pleasure from the various women in whose company one has tasted it, when one has not reduced it to a general idea which makes one regard them thenceforward as the variable instruments of a pleasure that is always the same.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Marcel Proust"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readily-and-also-that-the-caresses/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Life"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readily-and-also-that-the-caresses/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c64/marcel-proust-114_life_i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readil_1045862.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c64/marcel-proust-114_life_i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readil_1045862.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c64/marcel-proust-114_life_i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readil_1045862.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I could believe this all the more readily (and also that the caresses by which she would bring that savour…” — 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": "“I could believe this all the...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readily-and-also-that-the-caresses/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-could-believe-this-all-the-more-readily-and-also-that-the-caresses/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
