Reflexion IX of La Rochefoucauld’s. Obvious style differences notwithstanding, Proust is to me the true end heir of La Rochefoucauld’s tradition and I always think it would be a curious experiment for an editor to try adding various maxims throughout the novel as aid to help first time readers stay on track. This one maybe most of all prompts that thought.
There is in the human heart a perpetual generation of passions, such that the wreck of one is almost always the establishment of another.
Il y a dans le cœur humain une génération perpétuelle de passions, en sorte que la ruine de l’une est presque toujours l’établissement d’une autre.
Extracts 