“There is, perhaps, nothing more tragic in life than this mutual ignorance of those who love each other.”Marcel Proust · În căutarea timpului pierdut · 1913 · La Prisonnière
Love doesn't open the other soul; it only makes the closed door hurt more.
Love seems to promise total access to another soul, but Proust shows it does not dissolve the barriers; it only makes them more painful. We cannot read the minds of those we love; we guess, we misread, we learn the truth too late or never. A son discovers, after his mother's death, letters that would have changed everything had he read them while she lived.
Why it matters It reminds us that real closeness takes work: questions asked in time, not comfortable assumptions left to pile up.