Something must always remain that eludes us .. For power to have an object on which it can be exercised, a space in which to stretch out its arms .. As long as I know there exists in the world someone who does tricks only for the love of the trick, as long as I know there is a woman who loves reading for reading's sake, I can convince myself that the world continues .. And every evening I, too, abandon myself to reading, like that distant unknown woman .. . Italo Calvino
About This Quote

Marcel Proust, in his novel "In Search of Lost Time", tells the story of a man who has lost all sense of time. He thinks only about the past, but he still feels the presence of events taking place in real time. This feeling is similar to what is called "presentism" -- the idea that the present is all there is to reality. Proust tells this story with great passion, and it is due to this passion that readers will want to know more about the woman in the story. She represents one of Proust's great loves -- reading.

He is so passionate about reading because he understands that reading can create beauty out of nothing, and it can reveal new truths about our world. Proust realizes that while reading can be done for many different reasons, it always makes us more intelligent, more sensitive, and more alive.

Source: If On A Winters Night A Traveler

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