我曾以為我再也不愛阿爾貝蒂娜了，我相信我這個準確無誤的心理分析家並沒有忽略任何一個方面；我認為我對自己的內心最深處也瞭若指掌。然而我們的智慧無論多麼敏銳，我們卻無法窺見組成人心的要素，這些要素通常處於倏忽即逝的狀態，只要那能夠使其脫離這種狀態的現象未能使其經受起碼的凝固作用，這些要素就是不可臆測的。我原以為我看清了自己的內心，那是在欺騙自己。

(p.2 追憶似水年華 VI 女逃亡者 聯經版 1992)

I had supposed that I was no longer in love with Albertine, I had supposed that I was leaving nothing out of account; a careful analyst, I had supposed that I knew the state of my own heart. But our intelligence, however great it may be, cannot perceive the elements that compose it and remain unsuspected so long as, from the volatile state in which they generally exist, a phenomenon capable of isolating them has not subjected them to the first stages of solidification. I had been mistaken in thinking that I could see clearly into my own heart.

(Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff )

j’avais cru que je n’aimais plus Albertine, j’avais cru ne rien laisser de côtéi; en exact analyste, j’avais cru bien connaître le fond de mon coeur. Mais notre intelligence, si grande soit-elle, ne peut apercevoir les éléments qui le composent et qui restent insoupçonnés tant que, de l’état volatil où ils subsistent la plupart du temps, un phénomène capable de les isoler ne leur a pas fait subir un commencement de solidification. Je m’étais trompé en croyant voir clair dans mon coeur.

(l’édition Gallimard, Paris, 1946-47 )