--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The anaesthetic effect of habit being…" description: "\"“The anaesthetic effect of habit being destroyed, I would begin to think - and to feel - such melancholy things.”\" — Marcel Proust" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/marcel-proust-114_habit_the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-de_2707947.jpg" --- # The anaesthetic effect of habit being destroyed, I would… ![“The anaesthetic effect of habit being destroyed, I would begin to think - and to feel - such melancholy things.” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/marcel-proust-114_habit_the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-de_2707947.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/marcel-proust-114_habit_the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-de_2707947.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/marcel-proust-114_habit_the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-de_2707947.jpg) > ““The anaesthetic effect of habit being destroyed, I would begin to think - and to feel - such melancholy things.”” [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. Describes the melancholy that follows the loss of habitual comforts, revealing deep emotional dependence on routine. **In simple terms:** Loss of habit brings sadness. Key Takeaway Recognize emotional ties to routines. Themes psychology habit melancholy Mood reflective somber Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - therapy - personal reflection - creative writing - mindfulness Key Concepts memory existentialism emotional health Questions to Reflect On - What habits comfort you? - How do you cope with change? A Different Perspective May romanticize suffering. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Habit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habit/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Melancholy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/melancholy/) ## Related quotes > [There was a sadness over me, a melancholy. That's always been a part of me - those are some of the things that lead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahershala-ali/there-was-a-sadness-over-me-a-melancholy-that-s-always-been-a-part-of/) [Mahershala Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahershala-ali/) > [“I put my cell phone in my back pocket (a habit that has destroyed two phones so far) and tried to blank my face.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-briggs/i-put-my-cell-phone-in-my-back-pocket-a-habit-that-has-destroyed-two/) [Patricia Briggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-briggs/) > [The company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/the-company-of-fools-may-first-make-us-smile-but-in-the-end-we-always/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [“Every day it will be the same thing: at dusk I begin to feel melancholy and pensive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clarice-lispector/every-day-it-will-be-the-same-thing-at-dusk-i-begin-to-feel/) [Clarice Lispector](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clarice-lispector/) > [“Ursula is something I will never feel again: she is Melancholy, cut into the soul and flesh.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luther-blissett/ursula-is-something-i-will-never-feel-again-she-is-melancholy-cut/) [Luther Blissett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luther-blissett/) > [“I felt less unhappy than usual because her melancholy expression, the way the vivid colour of her dress almost cut her off from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-felt-less-unhappy-than-usual-because-her-melancholy-expression-the/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [This labour of the artist to discover a means of apprehending beneath matter and experience, beneath words, something different from their appearance, is of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/this-labour-of-the-artist-to-discover-a-means-of-apprehending-beneath/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“I was so much in the habit of having Albertine with me, and now I suddenly saw a new aspect of Habit. Hitherto I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/i-was-so-much-in-the-habit-of-having-albertine-with-me-and-now-i/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [There was only the broad square with the scattered dim moons of the street lamps and with the monumental stone arch which receded into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-maria-remarque/there-was-only-the-broad-square-with-the-scattered-dim-moons-of-the/) [Erich Maria Remarque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-maria-remarque/) > [In such a diversity it was impossible I should be disposed to melancholy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-boone/in-such-a-diversity-it-was-impossible-i-should-be-disposed-to/) [Daniel Boone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-boone/) > [“Nothing you did made sense and nothing you’ll ever do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hogan/nothing-you-did-made-sense-and-nothing-you-ll-ever-do/) [Michael Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hogan/) > [“They laughed, but I was melancholy. 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Goodrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-e-goodrich/) ## 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 Habit quotes > [I would drink gallons of coffee a day. Even now, off caffeine, I talk faster than anyone you've ever met. I finally recognized that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-englander/i-would-drink-gallons-of-coffee-a-day-even-now-off-caffeine-i-talk/) [Nathan Englander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-englander/) > [We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-i-packer/we-need-to-discover-all-over-again-that-worship-is-natural-to-the/) [J. I. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) > [Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/chaos-often-breeds-life-when-order-breeds-habit/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [“A lot of habitually creative people have preparation rituals linked to the setting in which they choose to start their day. By putting themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twyla-tharp/a-lot-of-habitually-creative-people-have-preparation-rituals-linked/) [Twyla Tharp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/twyla-tharp/) > [One of the noblest words in our language is "grace," defined as "unearned blessing." We live by grace far more than by anything else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-elton-trueblood/one-of-the-noblest-words-in-our-language-is-grace-defined-as-unearned/) [D. Elton Trueblood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-elton-trueblood/) > [Cultivate the habit of thinking ahead, and of anticipating the necessary and immediate consequences of all your actions… Likewise in your pleasures, ask yourself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-chesterfield/cultivate-the-habit-of-thinking-ahead-and-of-anticipating-the/) [Lord Chesterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-chesterfield/) > [“Habits form and habits grow, Then some time later, habits go.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tito-rajarshi-mukhopadhyay/habits-form-and-habits-grow-then-some-time-later-habits-go/) Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay > [It is a good practice to write at least on page of mantra daily. Many people get better concentration by writing than by chanting.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/it-is-a-good-practice-to-write-at-least-on-page-of-mantra-daily-many/) [Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/) > [I feel that between my experience and my mother's, breast cancer is a little bit like someone who lives next door. I know what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-nixon/i-feel-that-between-my-experience-and-my-mother-s-breast-cancer-is-a/) [Cynthia Nixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-nixon/) > [Thirty days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit - like watching the news…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-cutts/thirty-days-is-just-about-the-right-amount-of-time-to-add-a-new-habit/) [Matt Cutts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-cutts/) > [Working at home is hard. It tends to give you bad habits. It feels more like you're going to work when you get up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-beaton/working-at-home-is-hard-it-tends-to-give-you-bad-habits-it-feels-more/) [Kate Beaton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-beaton/) > [There are two sorts of content; one is connected with exertion, the other with habits of indolence. The first is a virtue; the other,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-edgeworth/there-are-two-sorts-of-content-one-is-connected-with-exertion-the/) [Maria Edgeworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-edgeworth/) > [The DMK and the Communists may have the habit of lying, but I don't come from a family that lies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tamilisai-soundararajan/the-dmk-and-the-communists-may-have-the-habit-of-lying-but-i-don-t/) [Tamilisai Soundararajan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tamilisai-soundararajan/) > [Lust indulged became habit, and habit unresisted became necessity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-augustine/lust-indulged-became-habit-and-habit-unresisted-became-necessity/) [Saint Augustine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-augustine/) > [I don't analyze what I'm doing. I've read convincing interpretations of my work, and sometimes I've noticed something that I wasn't aware of, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-sherman/i-don-t-analyze-what-i-m-doing-i-ve-read-convincing-interpretations/) [Cindy Sherman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-sherman/) [Browse all 4,726 Habit quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habit/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The anaesthetic effect of habit being destroyed, I would begin to think - and to feel - such melancholy things.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marcel Proust" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-destroyed-i-would-begin-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Habit" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-destroyed-i-would-begin-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/marcel-proust-114_habit_the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-de_2707947.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/marcel-proust-114_habit_the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-de_2707947.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fdb/marcel-proust-114_habit_the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-de_2707947.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The anaesthetic effect of habit being destroyed, I would begin to think - and to feel - such melancholy…” — 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": "“The anaesthetic effect of habit being...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-destroyed-i-would-begin-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-anaesthetic-effect-of-habit-being-destroyed-i-would-begin-to/#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 } } ] } ```