--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We scornfully decline, because of one…" description: "\"We scornfully decline, because of one whom we love and who will some day be of so little account, to see another who is of no account to-day, with whom..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/marcel-proust-114_accounts_we-scornfully-decline-because-of-one-who_1233575.jpg" --- # We scornfully decline, because of one whom we love and who… ![“We scornfully decline, because of one whom we love and who will some day be of so little account, to see another who is of no account to-day, with whom we shall be in love to-morrow, with whom we might, perhaps, had we consented to see her now, have fallen in love a little earlier and who would…” quote by Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/marcel-proust-114_accounts_we-scornfully-decline-because-of-one-who_1233575.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/marcel-proust-114_accounts_we-scornfully-decline-because-of-one-who_1233575.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d1/marcel-proust-114_accounts_we-scornfully-decline-because-of-one-who_1233575.jpg) > “We scornfully decline, because of one whom we love and who will some day be of so little account, to see another who is of no account to-day, with whom we shall be in love to-morrow, with whom we might, perhaps, had we consented to see her now, have fallen in love a little earlier and who would thus have put a term to our present sufferings, bringing others, it is true, in their place.” [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. People often postpone love for a current beloved, missing potential new connections that could ease present suffering. **In simple terms:** Delaying love for the known can cause missed opportunities. Key Takeaway Balance loyalty with openness to new relationships. Themes love regret timing choice Mood melancholic reflective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - marriage decisions - friendship choices - career moves - personal growth Key Concepts existentialism psychology literature Questions to Reflect On - What fears hold you back from new love? - How can you honor past love while embracing new possibilities? A Different Perspective Choosing new love may cause hurt to existing bonds. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Decline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decline/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/we-can-recognize-the-dawn-and-the-decline-of-love-by-the-uneasiness/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [You seem to have quite a taste for discussing these horrible subjects," she said, rather scornfully; "you ought to have been a detective police…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-elizabeth-braddon/you-seem-to-have-quite-a-taste-for-discussing-these-horrible-subjects-2/) [Mary Elizabeth Braddon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-elizabeth-braddon/) > [“You seem to have quite a taste for discussing these horrible subjects," she said, rather scornfully; "you ought to have been a detective police…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-elizabeth-braddon/you-seem-to-have-quite-a-taste-for-discussing-these-horrible-subjects/) [Mary Elizabeth Braddon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-elizabeth-braddon/) > [“... but remember that I shall love your sorrow...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cordwainer-smith/but-remember-that-i-shall-love-your-sorrow/) [Cordwainer Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cordwainer-smith/) > [“You  shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-shall-love-the-lord-your-god-with-all-your-heart-and-with-all/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. 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Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [I am going to write a book the title shall be The Love of my Life is it alright if you are the main…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabe-de-la-o/i-am-going-to-write-a-book-the-title-shall-be-the-love-of-my-life-is/) Gabe De La O > [I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as if we had never married at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/i-have-great-hopes-that-we-shall-love-each-other-all-our-lives-as/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [If you do not love me I shall not be loved If I do not love you I shall not love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/if-you-do-not-love-me-i-shall-not-be-loved-if-i-do-not-love-you-i/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [We must be ever on the search for some persons whom we shall love and who will love us in return. 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A word so powerful, it's hard to find meaning in any dictionary. Just be glad you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/no-one/love-n-luhv-the-emotion-of-something-unexplainable-a-word-so-powerful/) [No one](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/no-one/) > [You asked me once if I would still love you when your lips were puckered with age and your eyes were faded. I can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teresa-medeiros/you-asked-me-once-if-i-would-still-love-you-when-your-lips-were/) [Teresa Medeiros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teresa-medeiros/) ## 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 Accounts quotes > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - 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