--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: … it would even be inexact to say that I…" description: "\"“… it would even be inexact to say that I thought of those who read it as readers of my book. Because they were not, as I saw it, my readers. More exac..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef9/marcel-proust-114_books_it-would-even-be-inexact-to-say-that-i-t_2754192.jpg" --- # … it would even be inexact to say that I thought of those… ![“… it would even be inexact to say that I thought of those who read it as readers of my book. Because they were not, as I saw it, my readers. More exactly they were readers of themselves, my book being a sort of magnifying glass … by which I could give them the means to read within themselves.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef9/marcel-proust-114_books_it-would-even-be-inexact-to-say-that-i-t_2754192.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef9/marcel-proust-114_books_it-would-even-be-inexact-to-say-that-i-t_2754192.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ef9/marcel-proust-114_books_it-would-even-be-inexact-to-say-that-i-t_2754192.jpg) > ““… it would even be inexact to say that I thought of those who read it as readers of my book. Because they were not, as I saw it, my readers. More exactly they were readers of themselves, my book being a sort of magnifying glass … by which I could give them the means to read within themselves.”” [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. Readers become self-reflective through literature, using the text as a lens to examine their own inner world. **In simple terms:** Books help us see ourselves. Key Takeaway Use reading for self-discovery. Themes self‑reflection literature identity mirroring inner growth Mood contemplative introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - book clubs - therapy sessions - personal journaling - educational curricula Key Concepts psychology philosophy literary criticism Questions to Reflect On - How does a book change your self‑view? - What does it mean to read yourself? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on texts may hinder personal experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrative/) [Narratology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narratology/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Readers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/readers/) ## Related quotes > [The appeal of reading, she thought, lay in its indifference: there was something undeferring about literature. 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They ask questions about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fiona-barton/once-you-write-a-book-you-hand-it-over-to-the-readers-and-it-s-their/) [Fiona Barton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fiona-barton/) > [We were never organized readers who would see a book through to its end in any sory of logical order. We weave in and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-brown/we-were-never-organized-readers-who-would-see-a-book-through-to-its/) [Eleanor Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-brown/) > [I definitely feel like when I write a book it's not my job to police or guide the readers. The book and the characters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danzy-senna/i-definitely-feel-like-when-i-write-a-book-it-s-not-my-job-to-police/) [Danzy Senna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danzy-senna/) > [There are many readers of the book, who don't know anything about the authors and the artists. There is more than one author. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-ba/there-are-many-readers-of-the-book-who-don-t-know-anything-about-the/) [Gabriel Ba](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-ba/) > [All true readers have a book, a moment when real life is never going to be able to compete with fiction again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-morton/all-true-readers-have-a-book-a-moment-when-real-life-is-never-going/) [Kate Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-morton/) > [“Also, there is a dedicated community of people in the world who will always be able to connect with each other across all languages,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-george/also-there-is-a-dedicated-community-of-people-in-the-world-who-will/) [Nina George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-george/) > [“Literature takes us away from our grey everyday experience, but brings us back enriched with new sensibilities.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willie-van-peer/literature-takes-us-away-from-our-grey-everyday-experience-but-brings/) Willie van Peer > [“You can't love someone without imaginative sympathy, without beginning to see the world from another point of view. You can't be a good lover,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-barnes/you-can-t-love-someone-without-imaginative-sympathy-without-beginning/) [Julian Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-barnes/) > [“Maslow's five values are the values for which people live when they have nothing to live for. Nothing has seized them, nothing has caught…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/maslow-s-five-values-are-the-values-for-which-people-live-when-they/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [“We want the author to give us answers when all he can do is give us desires.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-karpeles/we-want-the-author-to-give-us-answers-when-all-he-can-do-is-give-us/) Eric Karpeles > [“Narratives are universally used for mediating emotional experiences. The purpose of aesthetic objects has been defined, in part, as 'the awakening, intensifying, or maintaining…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikkel-wallentin-arndis-simonsen-andreas-hojlund-nielsen/narratives-are-universally-used-for-mediating-emotional-experiences/) Mikkel Wallentin Arndis Simonsen Andreas Hojlund Nielsen > [ “\[I\]ndividual readers may conceivably choose (or be led) to regard a given text as literary in cases where such a response is not shared… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-o-neill/i-ndividual-readers-may-conceivably-choose-or-be-led-to-regard-a/) Patrick O'Neill ## 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 Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“… it would even be inexact to say that I thought of those who read it as readers of my book. Because they were not, as I saw it, my readers. 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