A leaning stack of five teacups balanced on a spoon on a blue-covered table against a coral background.

Original artwork, not a still

Remembrance of Things Past

Marcel Proust

The regularity of a habit is generally in proportion to its absurdity.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker observes that the more ridiculous a habit is, the more faithfully people tend to keep it. Rituals with no good reason seem to hold on hardest. The remark is wry, poking at human creatures of routine who cling to their oddities.

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