--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I had long since given up trying to…" description: "\"I had long since given up trying to extract from a woman as it were the square root of her unknown quantity, the mystery of which a mere introduction w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8be/marcel-proust-114_enough_i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extr_2888746.jpg" --- # I had long since given up trying to extract from a woman… ![“I had long since given up trying to extract from a woman as it were the square root of her unknown quantity, the mystery of which a mere introduction was generally enough to dispel.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8be/marcel-proust-114_enough_i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extr_2888746.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8be/marcel-proust-114_enough_i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extr_2888746.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8be/marcel-proust-114_enough_i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extr_2888746.jpg) > “I had long since given up trying to extract from a woman as it were the square root of her unknown quantity, the mystery of which a mere introduction was generally enough to dispel.” [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. Attempting to quantify a woman's mystery is futile; simple introductions often dissolve the enigma. **In simple terms:** Mysteries resist quantification. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty in relationships. Themes love mystery human nature Mood thoughtful poetic Type literary psychological When to use this quote - dating advice - relationship counseling - literary analysis Key Concepts intimacy communication philosophical perception Questions to Reflect On - When is curiosity harmful? - How to appreciate mystery without fear? A Different Perspective Over‑analysis can damage intimacy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Introduction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/introduction/) [Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery/) [Roots](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/roots/) [Square roots](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/square-roots/) [Women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/women/) ## Related quotes > [How can you shorten the subject? That stern struggle with the multiplication table, for many people not yet ended in victory, how can you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-leacock/how-can-you-shorten-the-subject-that-stern-struggle-with-the/) [Stephen Leacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-leacock/) > [The square root of I is I.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/the-square-root-of-i-is-i/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [The human brain finds it extremely hard to cope with a new level of abstraction. This is why it was well into the eighteenth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-devlin/the-human-brain-finds-it-extremely-hard-to-cope-with-a-new-level-of/) [Keith Devlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-devlin/) > [But think of Adam and Eve like an imaginary number, like the square root of minus one: you can never see any concrete proof…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-pullman/but-think-of-adam-and-eve-like-an-imaginary-number-like-the-square/) [Philip Pullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-pullman/) > [The square root of nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/the-square-root-of-nothing/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [If I can't get people to commit themselves on whether or not there is a square root of two, then I won't touch on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/if-i-can-t-get-people-to-commit-themselves-on-whether-or-not-there-is/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [The square root of 69 is 8(ate) som'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/drake/the-square-root-of-69-is-8-ate-som/) [Drake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/drake/) > [Speaking of human computers, there is a guy named Art Benjamin, he's a human calculator. He says it's a skill he learned as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-nye/speaking-of-human-computers-there-is-a-guy-named-art-benjamin-he-s-a/) [Bill Nye](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-nye/) > [I met a man once who told me that far from believing in the square root of minus one, he didn't believe in minus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-charles-titchmarsh/i-met-a-man-once-who-told-me-that-far-from-believing-in-the-square/) [Edward Charles Titchmarsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-charles-titchmarsh/) > [Square root of a cosine? How is that ever going to be useful?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aprilynne-pike/square-root-of-a-cosine-how-is-that-ever-going-to-be-useful/) [Aprilynne Pike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aprilynne-pike/) > [Irrationality is the square root of all evil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-hofstadter/irrationality-is-the-square-root-of-all-evil/) [Douglas Hofstadter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-hofstadter/) > [Programming graphics in X is like finding the square root of PI using Roman numerals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-spencer/programming-graphics-in-x-is-like-finding-the-square-root-of-pi-using/) [Henry Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-spencer/) > [Is the square root of hate the same thing as love times love?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-mirman/is-the-square-root-of-hate-the-same-thing-as-love-times-love/) [Eugene Mirman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-mirman/) > [Reality had always been something of an unknown quantity to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kavan/reality-had-always-been-something-of-an-unknown-quantity-to-me/) [Anna Kavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kavan/) > [Women, even more than the working class, is the great unknown quantity of the race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keir-hardie/women-even-more-than-the-working-class-is-the-great-unknown-quantity/) Keir Hardie ## 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 Enough quotes > [I guess at it's very core love is connection that just makes so much sense you wonder how you used to live before you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-stone/i-guess-at-it-s-very-core-love-is-connection-that-just-makes-so-much/) [Benjamin Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-stone/) > [Failures happen. You can't cry over them. You just take it in your stride because you know that you have done your best... Sometimes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-dutta/failures-happen-you-can-t-cry-over-them-you-just-take-it-in-your/) [Divya Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-dutta/) > [I feel very grateful to be alive and well enough to make music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-ant/i-feel-very-grateful-to-be-alive-and-well-enough-to-make-music/) Adam Ant > [I've been lucky enough to, for the most part, surround myself with a lot of people who are more talented than me and who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-franco/i-ve-been-lucky-enough-to-for-the-most-part-surround-myself-with-a/) [Dave Franco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-franco/) > [I love because there is not enough room in my heart to hate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rena-kornreich-gelissen/i-love-because-there-is-not-enough-room-in-my-heart-to-hate/) Rena Kornreich Gelissen > [We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth; it is their common method to take on trust what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/we-find-few-historians-who-have-been-diligent-enough-in-their-search/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [Sometimes it's just enough for me to have the idea. I don't need to see it through to the end. When it actually happens,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-sedaris/sometimes-it-s-just-enough-for-me-to-have-the-idea-i-don-t-need-to/) [Amy Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-sedaris/) > [The vast majority of organizations today have more than enough intelligence, experience and knowledge to be successful. What they lack is organizational health.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-lencioni/the-vast-majority-of-organizations-today-have-more-than-enough/) [Patrick Lencioni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-lencioni/) > [I'm an actor, so I'm never going to feel like I've done enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/italia-ricci/i-m-an-actor-so-i-m-never-going-to-feel-like-i-ve-done-enough/) [Italia Ricci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/italia-ricci/) > [I've been to Manchester enough to know it's a real place. It's not Factory Records and the Smiths bicycling around. I get it. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-murphy/i-ve-been-to-manchester-enough-to-know-it-s-a-real-place-it-s-not/) [James Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-murphy/) > [Lutherans, whose arguments and mistakes will not be difficult to contest or discover, do not want to attribute any value to works, and they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-servetus/lutherans-whose-arguments-and-mistakes-will-not-be-difficult-to/) [Michael Servetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-servetus/) > [Sam dropped me off. When she was too far away to see me, I started to cry again. Because she was my friend again.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-chbosky/sam-dropped-me-off-when-she-was-too-far-away-to-see-me-i-started-to/) [Stephen Chbosky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-chbosky/) > [I just worried about my weight. Worried about my appearance and thought I wan't pretty enough to be a pop star. It was very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-durham/i-just-worried-about-my-weight-worried-about-my-appearance-and/) [Judith Durham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-durham/) > [I don't want this to be a distraction. This has been distracting enough. I'm not going to rehash this going forward. I'm sure other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jayson-werth/i-don-t-want-this-to-be-a-distraction-this-has-been-distracting/) [Jayson Werth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jayson-werth/) > [New York is large, glamorous, easy-going, kindly and incurious, but above all it is a crucible - because it is large enough to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ford-madox-ford/new-york-is-large-glamorous-easy-going-kindly-and-incurious-but-above/) [Ford Madox Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ford-madox-ford/) Browse all 23,898 Enough quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I had long since given up trying to extract from a woman as it were the square root of her unknown quantity, the mystery of which a mere introduction was generally enough to dispel.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extract-from-a-woman-as-it-were/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Enough" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extract-from-a-woman-as-it-were/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8be/marcel-proust-114_enough_i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extr_2888746.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8be/marcel-proust-114_enough_i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extr_2888746.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8be/marcel-proust-114_enough_i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extr_2888746.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I had long since given up trying to extract from a woman as it were the square root of her unknown quantity…” — 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 had long since given up...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extract-from-a-woman-as-it-were/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-had-long-since-given-up-trying-to-extract-from-a-woman-as-it-were/#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 } } ] } ```