--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was in the defects that they…" description: "\"“It was in the defects that they [servants] invariably acquired that I learned of my own natural, invariable defects, and their character presented me ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/marcel-proust-114_character_it-was-in-the-defects-that-they-servants_2873513.jpg" --- # It was in the defects that they \[servants\] invariably… ![“It was in the defects that they [servants] invariably acquired that I learned of my own natural, invariable defects, and their character presented me with a sort of negative proof of my own.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/marcel-proust-114_character_it-was-in-the-defects-that-they-servants_2873513.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/marcel-proust-114_character_it-was-in-the-defects-that-they-servants_2873513.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/marcel-proust-114_character_it-was-in-the-defects-that-they-servants_2873513.jpg) > ““It was in the defects that they \[servants\] invariably acquired that I learned of my own natural, invariable defects, and their character presented me with a sort of negative proof of my own.”” [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. Recognizing others' flaws reveals our own imperfections, offering a reflective mirror of self. **In simple terms:** Seeing others' defects shows our own. Key Takeaway Reflect on personal blind spots. Themes self‑awareness humility reflection Mood thoughtful introspective Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal growth - therapy - leadership training Key Concepts mirror self‑knowledge imperfection Questions to Reflect On - What defects do you see in yourself? - How can others' flaws guide your growth? A Different Perspective Self‑knowledge can be uncomfortable. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Defects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defects/) [Defects Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defects-character-1332815/) [Defects Servants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defects-servants-3944618/) [Invariable Defects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/invariable-defects-3944619/) [Servants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/servants/) [Servants Invariably](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/servants-invariably-373293/) ## Related quotes > [We tend to see our character flaws as simple defects, and the simple defects of others as character flaws.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mardy-grothe/we-tend-to-see-our-character-flaws-as-simple-defects-and-the-simple/) [Mardy Grothe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mardy-grothe/) > [Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/why-is-it-that-at-a-bachelor-s-establishment-the-servants-invariably/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [It is one of the defects of my character that I cannot altogether dislike anyone who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-somerset-maugham/it-is-one-of-the-defects-of-my-character-that-i-cannot-altogether/) [W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-somerset-maugham/) > [“She's on the stairs, ma'am, getting her breath,' said the young servant, who had not been long up from the country, where my mother…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/she-s-on-the-stairs-ma-am-getting-her-breath-said-the-young-servant/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“But the harshness of his steely glare was compensated by the softness of his cotton gloves, so that, as he approached Swann, he seemed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/but-the-harshness-of-his-steely-glare-was-compensated-by-the-softness/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [A person does not...stand motionless and clear before our eyes with his merits, his defects, his plans, his intentions with regard to ourself exposed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/a-person-does-not-stand-motionless-and-clear-before-our-eyes-with-his/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [The fact of the matter is that, since we are determined always to keep our feelings to ourselves, we have never given any thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-fact-of-the-matter-is-that-since-we-are-determined-always-to-keep/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“it is common for those that have called themselves His servants, after awhile to give Him the slip, and return again to me.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-bunyan/it-is-common-for-those-that-have-called-themselves-his-servants-after/) [John Bunyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-bunyan/) > [I am in charity, my children, with all the servants of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caedmon/i-am-in-charity-my-children-with-all-the-servants-of-god/) [Caedmon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caedmon/) > [“Zubaidah wore so much jewelry that two servants had to help her stand.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-womack/zubaidah-wore-so-much-jewelry-that-two-servants-had-to-help-her-stand/) [Gwendolyn Womack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-womack/) > [Civil servants take forever to do anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-wambaugh/civil-servants-take-forever-to-do-anything/) [Joseph Wambaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-wambaugh/) > [“The holy servants were separated, for the sake of Law of God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/the-holy-servants-were-separated-for-the-sake-of-law-of-god/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [Give me the life of the boy whose mother is nurse, seamstress, washerwoman, cook, teacher, angel, and saint, all in one, and whose father…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-carnegie/give-me-the-life-of-the-boy-whose-mother-is-nurse-seamstress/) [Andrew Carnegie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-carnegie/) > [Our Heavenly Father is far more merciful, infinitely more charitable, than even the best of his servants, and the Everlasting Gospel is mightier in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-f-whitney/our-heavenly-father-is-far-more-merciful-infinitely-more-charitable/) [Orson F. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-f-whitney/) > [“When the servants break the cups and saucers, a ‘puzzle’ arises within. Who really breaks the cups and saucers? Who runs this world? One…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/when-the-servants-break-the-cups-and-saucers-a-puzzle-arises-within/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) ## 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 Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. 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You better know what she would do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hudgins/when-you-re-on-a-daytime-drama-you-get-one-page-you-better-damn-well/) [David Hudgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hudgins/) > [It can sometimes make people fold into themselves and kind of run away, but I think in this case these characters are being forced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-deschanel/it-can-sometimes-make-people-fold-into-themselves-and-kind-of-run/) [Emily Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-deschanel/) > [If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. 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