Albertine's taste for these pretty things was much sharper than the Duchesse's, because, like any obstacle placed in the way of possession (like illness, which made travel so difficult and so desirable for me), poverty, more generous in this than riches, gives women something more than the clothes they cannot buy: the desire for these clothes, which is the true way, detailed, thorough, of getting to know them.
Albertine avait pour toutes ces jolies choses un goût bien plus vif que la duchesse, parce que, comme tout obstacle apporté à une possession (telle pour moi la maladie qui me rendait les voyages si difficiles et si désirables), la pauvreté, plus généreuse que l’opulence, donne aux femmes, bien plus que la toilette qu’elles ne peuvent pas acheter, le désir de cette toilette qui en est la connaissance véritable, détaillée, approfondie.
As usual, the idea, that if the obstacle didn't exist we would achieve happiness, or we would live true life we always desired, etc. is an illusion. Our mind is concentrated on this obstacle and we forget those which also prevented or will prevent us being happy. We think that if not this obstacle, the road towards the happiness would be clear. That is, major obstacle bars from our vision smaller ones which are also capable of making our lives impossible.
Cervantes says that hunger is the best sauce.
Do you remember Sartre's phrase that France has never been so free?
What is a philosopher according Plato (Symposium), someone who desires wisdom. Not someone who is a sage, but someone who wants to become one.
We are able to know something or someone only through love.
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