Page 324 - swanns-way

like a man into whose life a woman, whom he has seen for
a moment passing by, has brought a new form of beauty,
which strengthens and enlarges his own power of percep-
tion, without his knowing even whether he is ever to see her
again whom he loves already, although he knows nothing of
her, not even her name.
Indeed this passion for a phrase of music seemed, in the
first few months, to be bringing into Swann’s life the pos-
sibility of a sort of re— juvenation. He had so long since
ceased to direct his course towards any ideal goal, and had
confined himself to the pursuit of ephemeral satisfactions,
that he had come to believe, though without ever formal-
ly stating his belief even to himself, that he would remain
all his life in that condition, which death alone could alter.
More than this, since his mind no longer entertained any
lofty ideals, he had ceased to believe in (although he could
not have expressly denied) their reality. He had grown also
into the habit of taking refuge in trivial considerations,
which allowed him to set on one side matters of fundamen-
tal importance. Just as he had never stopped to ask himself
whether he would not have done better by not going into
society, knowing very well that if he had accepted an invita-
tion he must put in an appearance, and that afterwards, if
he did not actually call, he must at least leave cards upon his
hostess; so in his conversation he took care never to express
with any warmth a personal opinion about a thing, but in-
stead would supply facts and details which had a value of
a sort in themselves, and excused him from shewing how
much he really knew. He would be extremely precise about

324 Swann’s Way