---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: this same love for her own people, and…"
description: "\"“this same love for her own people, and her desire to establish the future greatness of her house on a solid foundation reacted, in her policy with reg..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c78/marcel-proust-114_solid-foundation_this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-he_1597670.jpg"
---

#  this same love for her own people, and her desire to…

![“this same love for her own people, and her desire to establish the future greatness of her house on a solid foundation reacted, in her policy with regard to the other servants, in one unvarying maxim, which was never to let any of them set foot in my aunt’s room; indeed she shewed a sort of pride…” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c78/marcel-proust-114_solid-foundation_this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-he_1597670.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c78/marcel-proust-114_solid-foundation_this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-he_1597670.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c78/marcel-proust-114_solid-foundation_this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-he_1597670.jpg)

> ““this same love for her own people, and her desire to establish the future greatness of her house on a solid foundation reacted, in her policy with regard to the other servants, in one unvarying maxim, which was never to let any of them set foot in my aunt’s room; indeed she shewed a sort of pride in not allowing anyone else to come near my aunt, preferring, when she herself was ill, to get out of bed and to administer the Vichy water in person, rather than to concede to the kitchen-maid the right of entry into her mistress’s presence. There is a species of hymenoptera, observed by Fabre, the burrowing wasp, which in order to provide a supply of fresh meat for her offspring after her own decease, calls in the science of anatomy to amplify the resources of her instinctive cruelty, and, having made a collection of weevils and spiders, proceeds with marvellous knowledge and skill to pierce the nerve-centre on which their power of locomotion (but none of their other vital functions) depends, so that the paralysed insect, beside which her egg is laid, will furnish the larva, when it is hatched, with a tamed and inoffensive quarry, incapable either of flight or of resistance, but perfectly fresh for the larder: in the same way Françoise had adopted, to minister to her permanent and unfaltering resolution to render the house uninhabitable to any other servant, a series of crafty and pitiless stratagems. Many years later we discovered that, if we had been fed on asparagus day after day throughout that whole season, it was because the smell of the plants gave the poor kitchen-maid, who had to prepare them, such violent attacks of asthma that she was finally obliged to leave my aunt’s service.””

[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.

A controlling figure uses meticulous, cruel tactics to maintain dominance, likened to a wasp’s parasitic behavior.

**In simple terms:** Control through cruelty and manipulation.

Key Takeaway

Beware of manipulative control.

Themes

power control manipulation family dynamics

Mood

cautionary critical

Type

literary psychological

When to use this quote

- family households
- workplace
- personal relationships

Key Concepts

parasitism psychology authority

Questions to Reflect On

- How does control manifest in your environment?
- What are healthier ways to maintain boundaries?

A Different Perspective

The quote may exaggerate for literary effect.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Aunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aunt/) [Aunt Preferring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aunt-preferring-6068568/) [Burrowing Wasp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/burrowing-wasp-6068567/) [Hymenoptera Observed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hymenoptera-observed-6068566/) [Solid foundation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/solid-foundation/) [Uninhabitable Servant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uninhabitable-servant-6068569/)

## Related quotes

> [“madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-flowers which my aunt used to give me (although I did not yet know and must long postpone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/madeleine-soaked-in-her-decoction-of-lime-flowers-which-my-aunt-used/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [“In short, my aunt demanded that whoever came to see her must at one and the same time approve of her way of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/in-short-my-aunt-demanded-that-whoever-came-to-see-her-must-at-one/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [ The disinterest \[of my two great-aunts\] in anything that had to do with high society was such that their sense of hearing ... put… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/the-disinterest-of-my-two-great-aunts-in-anything-that-had-to-do-with/)

[Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/)

> [Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/humility-is-the-solid-foundation-of-all-virtues/)

[Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/)

> [Once you come up with a premise, you have to work out how it all happened. It's a bit like coming up with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linwood-barclay/once-you-come-up-with-a-premise-you-have-to-work-out-how-it-all/)

[Linwood Barclay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linwood-barclay/)

> [A crown, a throne could not be based on the not too very solid foundation of blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammed-reza-pahlavi/a-crown-a-throne-could-not-be-based-on-the-not-too-very-solid/)

[Mohammed Reza Pahlavi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammed-reza-pahlavi/)

> [A mother's heart is a patchwork of love. Mothers everywhere carry feelings, visions, dreams and desire for their children that only a mother would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-mother-s-heart-is-a-patchwork-of-love-mothers-everywhere-carry/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Generosity is another quality which, like patience, letting go, non-judging, and trust, provides a solid foundation for mindfulness practice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-kabat-zinn/generosity-is-another-quality-which-like-patience-letting-go-non/)

[Jon Kabat-Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-kabat-zinn/)

> [The Omega Point Theory can be a solid foundation of support for all of the great human religions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-tipler/the-omega-point-theory-can-be-a-solid-foundation-of-support-for-all/)

[Frank Tipler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-tipler/)

> [You can't build a great building on a weak foundation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-b-hinckley/you-can-t-build-a-great-building-on-a-weak-foundation/)

[Gordon B. Hinckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-b-hinckley/)

> [“I consider myself a synthetic thinker in a virtual domain therefore if I’m way off there is no solid foundation or reference for authentic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-henegan/i-consider-myself-a-synthetic-thinker-in-a-virtual-domain-therefore/)

[Carl Henegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-henegan/)

> [“Olivia, everyone starts at the bottom. Hell, it’s better to start at the bottom. Sooner or later we all get acquainted with the ground.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katy-evans/olivia-everyone-starts-at-the-bottom-hell-it-s-better-to-start-at-the/)

[Katy Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katy-evans/)

> [“To know what we think, to be masters of our own meaning, will make a solid foundation for great and weighty thought.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peirce-charles-sanders/to-know-what-we-think-to-be-masters-of-our-own-meaning-will-make-a/)

[Peirce Charles Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peirce-charles-sanders/)

> [Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-carroll-of-carrollton/without-morals-a-republic-cannot-subsist-any-length-of-time-they/)

[Charles Carroll of Carrollton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-carroll-of-carrollton/)

> [To succeed, you will soon learn, as I did, the importance of a solid foundation in the basics of education - literacy, both verbal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-greenspan/to-succeed-you-will-soon-learn-as-i-did-the-importance-of-a-solid/)

[Alan Greenspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-greenspan/)

## 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 Aunt quotes

> [“My aunt Carol hasn’t heard her say a word in the whole six years and three months of Grace’s life—not a single syllable. Carol…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/my-aunt-carol-hasn-t-heard-her-say-a-word-in-the-whole-six-years-and/)

[Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/)

> [Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" said Hermione as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/your-aunt-and-uncle-will-be-proud-though-won-t-they-said-hermione-as/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [I was painfully shy, so my aunt suggested to my mum that me and my brother go to Stage 84, a performing arts school…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-cooke/i-was-painfully-shy-so-my-aunt-suggested-to-my-mum-that-me-and-my/)

[Christian Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-cooke/)

> [“Quin took on the air of someone who has just realized it's time for the yearly visit to the spinster great-aunt in a desperate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-fecteau/quin-took-on-the-air-of-someone-who-has-just-realized-it-s-time-for/)

[Amy Fecteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amy-fecteau/)

> [My aunt and uncle are clearly civilians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-kimmel/my-aunt-and-uncle-are-clearly-civilians/)

[Jimmy Kimmel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-kimmel/)

> [“Aunt Helen Beck had many intentions about her death. She was about being dead the way some people are about being British - she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-mccracken/aunt-helen-beck-had-many-intentions-about-her-death-she-was-about/)

[Elizabeth McCracken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-mccracken/)

> [I'll just do a round around of the house and make sure the rest of the family are fast asleep. We don't want that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerstin-gier/i-ll-just-do-a-round-around-of-the-house-and-make-sure-the-rest-of/)

[Kerstin Gier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerstin-gier/)

> [In the summer of 1964, my sister and I went to South Ballston, Virginia, to stay with my aunt and her kids. They passed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-p-jones/in-the-summer-of-1964-my-sister-and-i-went-to-south-ballston-virginia/)

[Edward P. Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-p-jones/)

> [“I look like Barbara Bush in drag." Aunt Jettie”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-harper/i-look-like-barbara-bush-in-drag-aunt-jettie/)

[Molly Harper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-harper/)

> [I only wanted Uncle Vernon standing by his own car (a Hudson) on a clear day, I got him and the car. Ialso got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-friedlander/i-only-wanted-uncle-vernon-standing-by-his-own-car-a-hudson-on-a/)

[Lee Friedlander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-friedlander/)

> [Both the five-year-olds looked at me with bewilderment and a bit of fearful uncertainty. I had a sudden horrifying image of the woman I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/both-the-five-year-olds-looked-at-me-with-bewilderment-and-a-bit-of/)

[Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/)

> [My aunt got me interested in journalism - she found an old typewriter, had it worked over, put it on the dining room table,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-jenkins/my-aunt-got-me-interested-in-journalism-she-found-an-old-typewriter/)

[Dan Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-jenkins/)

> [This kind of thing always amazed Ginny--people who just walked away from institutions. People who left school when they didn't see the point. Aunt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-johnson/this-kind-of-thing-always-amazed-ginny-people-who-just-walked-away/)

[Maureen Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-johnson/)

> [“You will not be able to shelter her forever,” my aunt insists. “What will happen when you are gone someday, and all the suitable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurie-forest/you-will-not-be-able-to-shelter-her-forever-my-aunt-insists-what-will/)

[Laurie Forest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurie-forest/)

> [my sweet old etcetera aunt lucy during the recent war could and what is more did tell you just what everybody was fighting for,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-sweet-old-etcetera-aunt-lucy-during-the-recent-war-could-and-what/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

[Browse all 720 Aunt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aunt/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“this same love for her own people, and her desire to establish the future greatness of her house on a solid foundation reacted, in her policy with regard to the other servants, in one unvarying maxim, which was never to let any of them set foot in my aunt’s room; indeed she shewed a sort of pride in not allowing anyone else to come near my aunt, preferring, when she herself was ill, to get out of bed and to administer the Vichy water in person, rather than to concede to the kitchen-maid the right of entry into her mistress’s presence. There is a species of hymenoptera, observed by Fabre, the burrowing wasp, which in order to provide a supply of fresh meat for her offspring after her own decease, calls in the science of anatomy to amplify the resources of her instinctive cruelty, and, having made a collection of weevils and spiders, proceeds with marvellous knowledge and skill to pierce the nerve-centre on which their power of locomotion (but none of their other vital functions) depends, so that the paralysed insect, beside which her egg is laid, will furnish the larva, when it is hatched, with a tamed and inoffensive quarry, incapable either of flight or of resistance, but perfectly fresh for the larder: in the same way Françoise had adopted, to minister to her permanent and unfaltering resolution to render the house uninhabitable to any other servant, a series of crafty and pitiless stratagems. Many years later we discovered that, if we had been fed on asparagus day after day throughout that whole season, it was because the smell of the plants gave the poor kitchen-maid, who had to prepare them, such violent attacks of asthma that she was finally obliged to leave my aunt’s service.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Marcel Proust"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-her-desire-to-establish-the/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Aunt"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-her-desire-to-establish-the/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c78/marcel-proust-114_solid-foundation_this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-he_1597670.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c78/marcel-proust-114_solid-foundation_this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-he_1597670.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c78/marcel-proust-114_solid-foundation_this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-he_1597670.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“this same love for her own people, and her desire to establish the future greatness of her house on a solid…” — 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": "“this same love for her own...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-her-desire-to-establish-the/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/this-same-love-for-her-own-people-and-her-desire-to-establish-the/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
