--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: People who are not in love fail to…" description: "\"People who are not in love fail to understand how an intelligent man can suffer because of a very ordinary woman. This is like being surprised that any..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffa/marcel-proust-114_cholera_people-who-are-not-in-love-fail-to-under_2024732.jpg" --- # People who are not in love fail to understand how an… ![“People who are not in love fail to understand how an intelligent man can suffer because of a very ordinary woman. This is like being surprised that anyone should be stricken with cholera because of a creature so insignificant as the common bacillus.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffa/marcel-proust-114_cholera_people-who-are-not-in-love-fail-to-under_2024732.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffa/marcel-proust-114_cholera_people-who-are-not-in-love-fail-to-under_2024732.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ffa/marcel-proust-114_cholera_people-who-are-not-in-love-fail-to-under_2024732.jpg) > “People who are not in love fail to understand how an intelligent man can suffer because of a very ordinary woman. This is like being surprised that anyone should be stricken with cholera because of a creature so insignificant as the common bacillus.” [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. Intellectuals may overlook suffering caused by ordinary people, seeing it as trivial as a tiny disease. **In simple terms:** Intellectuals miss ordinary suffering. Key Takeaway Recognize pain in everyday relationships. Themes love suffering perception Mood introspective critical Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - romantic relationships - mental health - social empathy - class dynamics Key Concepts existentialism humanism Questions to Reflect On - Why do we dismiss ordinary sources of pain? - How can we broaden empathy beyond intellectual circles? A Different Perspective Intellectual bias can blind empathy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cholera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cholera/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [People who, not being in love themselves, feel that a clever man should only be unhappy about a person who is worth his while;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/people-who-not-being-in-love-themselves-feel-that-a-clever-man-should/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Achille Adrien Proust, was a famous doctor and epidemiologist, responsible for studying and attempting to remedy the causes and movements of cholera through Europe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/achille-adrien-proust-was-a-famous-doctor-and-epidemiologist/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“One ordinary woman connected to an extraordinary God can make a difference”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pam-farrel/one-ordinary-woman-connected-to-an-extraordinary-god-can-make-a/) [Pam Farrel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pam-farrel/) > [The extraordinary woman depends on the ordinary woman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-extraordinary-woman-depends-on-the-ordinary-woman/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“I am an ordinary woman who did extraordinary things. The first to qualify as a ground engineer. The first to fly to Australia single-handed.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-lord-brown/i-am-an-ordinary-woman-who-did-extraordinary-things-the-first-to/) [Kate Lord Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-lord-brown/) > [It might sound ordinary for a woman to find out her husband's cheating on her, but not if you're the woman and it's your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-bank/it-might-sound-ordinary-for-a-woman-to-find-out-her-husband-s/) [Melissa Bank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-bank/) > [I am an ordinary woman from a Tamil family.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tamilisai-soundararajan/i-am-an-ordinary-woman-from-a-tamil-family/) [Tamilisai Soundararajan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tamilisai-soundararajan/) > [An 'Ordinary Woman' is the beautiful and achingly poignant portrait of Gwen, a complex and troubled woman in her middle years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lancashire/an-ordinary-woman-is-the-beautiful-and-achingly-poignant-portrait-of/) [Sarah Lancashire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lancashire/) > [Sometimes I'm more true when I'm up onstage than I'm able to be in my regular life. It's not as exciting to be at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonnie-raitt/sometimes-i-m-more-true-when-i-m-up-onstage-than-i-m-able-to-be-in-my/) [Bonnie Raitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonnie-raitt/) > [Well, honestly I feel like an ordinary woman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-aniston/well-honestly-i-feel-like-an-ordinary-woman/) [Jennifer Aniston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-aniston/) > [What separates an ordinary woman from an extraordinary one? The belief that she is ordinary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jody-williams/what-separates-an-ordinary-woman-from-an-extraordinary-one-the-belief/) [Jody Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jody-williams/) > [I myself am just an ordinary woman. I simply had no choice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miep-gies/i-myself-am-just-an-ordinary-woman-i-simply-had-no-choice/) [Miep Gies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miep-gies/) > [“She tried to live like an ordinary woman, but some women cannot live an ordinary life. She tried to walk in the common ways,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philippa-gregory/she-tried-to-live-like-an-ordinary-woman-but-some-women-cannot-live/) [Philippa Gregory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philippa-gregory/) > [The extraordinary woman depends on the ordinary woman. It is only when we know what were the conditions of the average woman's life -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-extraordinary-woman-depends-on-the-ordinary-woman-it-is-only-when/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“I'm just an ordinary woman who has somehow managed to do some extraordinary things!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fiona-roberts/i-m-just-an-ordinary-woman-who-has-somehow-managed-to-do-some/) Fiona Roberts ## 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 Cholera quotes > [Leaving out the gamblers, the burglars, and the plumbers, perhaps we do put our trust in God after a fashion. But, after all, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/leaving-out-the-gamblers-the-burglars-and-the-plumbers-perhaps-we-do/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [It is not till it is discovered that high individual incomes will not purchase the mass of mankind immunity from cholera, typhus, and ignorance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-h-tawney/it-is-not-till-it-is-discovered-that-high-individual-incomes-will-not/) [R. H. Tawney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-h-tawney/) > [Curiosity is one of the many masks of love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/curiosity-is-one-of-the-many-masks-of-love/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [I'd like to refocus everyone's attention away from the Kardashians and onto Doctors Without Borders or aid workers. Let's redefine scandal. Scandal is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-wilde/i-d-like-to-refocus-everyone-s-attention-away-from-the-kardashians/) [Olivia Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-wilde/) > [The cholera most forcibly teaches us our mutual connection. Nothing shows more powerfully the duty of every man to look after the needs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/titus-salt/the-cholera-most-forcibly-teaches-us-our-mutual-connection-nothing/) Titus Salt > [Nothing one does in bed is immoral if it helps to perpetuate love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/nothing-one-does-in-bed-is-immoral-if-it-helps-to-perpetuate-love/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [My cholera's acting up again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/libba-bray/my-cholera-s-acting-up-again/) [Libba Bray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/libba-bray/) > [This is an industry that doesn't have the common cold... It has cholera.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emanuel-azenberg/this-is-an-industry-that-doesn-t-have-the-common-cold-it-has-cholera/) Emanuel Azenberg > [Love isn't actually a feeling at all--it's an illness, a certain condition of body and soul… Usually it takes possession of someone without his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-turgenev/love-isn-t-actually-a-feeling-at-all-it-s-an-illness-a-certain/) [Ivan Turgenev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-turgenev/) > [“The circumstances of everyday life were too demanding-and in American's great cities, appalling.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-e-rosenberg/the-circumstances-of-everyday-life-were-too-demanding-and-in-american/) Charles E. Rosenberg > [He repeated until his dying day that there was no one with more common sense, no stonecutter more obstinate, no manager more lucid or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/he-repeated-until-his-dying-day-that-there-was-no-one-with-more/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [“Każdy z literatów pomyślał co innego. Berlioz: „Nie, to jednak cudzoziemiec!”, a Bezdomny: „O, cholera!...”.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mikhail-bulgakov/ka-dy-z-literat-w-pomy-la-co-innego-berlioz-nie-to-jednak/) [Mikhail Bulgakov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mikhail-bulgakov/) > [I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/i-have-waited-for-this-opportunity-for-more-than-half-a-century-to/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [“He killed more men than the cholera.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/he-killed-more-men-than-the-cholera/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“All that was needed was a shrewd questioning, first of the patient and then of his mother, to conclude once again that the symptoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/all-that-was-needed-was-a-shrewd-questioning-first-of-the-patient-and/) [Gabriel Garcia Márquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) [Browse all 66 Cholera quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cholera/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "People who are not in love fail to understand how an intelligent man can suffer because of a very ordinary woman. 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