[Ads-l] Quote Origin: A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company

[mr_peter_morris@outlook.com]

https://alarecherchedutempsperdu.org/proust-english-5.html

"Among the reasons which led Mamma to write me a daily letter, and a
etter which never failed to include some quotation from Mme. de Sévigné,
  there was the memory of my grandmother. Mamma would write to me:
“Mme. Sazerat gave us one of those little luncheons of which she 
possesses
  the secret and which, as your poor grandmother would have said, quoting
Mme. de Sévigné, deprive us of solitude without affording us company.”

Marcel Proust
The Captive, 1927.


I don't know if the attribution to Mme. de Sévigné is correct, I can't 
find
anything similar while searching a collection of her letters.

https://archive.org/details/selectionsfromra00raberich/page/42/mode/2up?q=deprive+solitude


Here's another attribution to her, again without specifying  the source.

https://www.boundary2.org/2020/04/dominic-pettman-netflix-and-chills-on-digital-distraction-during-the-global-quarantine/

"As the 17th-century socialite, Madame de Sévigné, wrote, “How tedious
those gatherings that deprive us of solitude without affording us 
company.”



------ Original Message ------
From "ADSGarson O'Toole" 
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 03/08/2025 21:29:24
Subject Quote Origin: A bore is a man who deprives you of solitude 
without providing you with company

>Quotation researcher Dave Hill asked me to explore the origin of the
>statement in the subject line which is often attributed to Irish wit
>Oscar Wilde and Italian man of letters Gian Vincenzo Gravina.
>
>The earliest match I found appeared in "Reader’s Digest" in March 1949
>within a section of miscellaneous sayings called "Quotable Quotes"
>
>[ref] 1949 March, Reader’s Digest, Volume 54, Number 323, Quotable
>Quotes, Quote Page 18, The Reader’s Digest Association, Pleasantville,
>New York. (Verified with hardcopy) [/ref]
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>Gian Vincenzo Gravina, contemporary Italian author: A bore is a man
>who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.
>[End excerpt]
>
>The entries printed on the "Quotable Quotes" page were sent to
>"Reader’s Digest" by readers who were compensated. The quotations were
>not verified by the magazine; hence, misquotations sometimes appeared.
>
>Gian (Giovanni) Vincenzo Gravina was the name of a prominent Italian
>jurist and author who died in 1718. Thus, the claim that Gravina was a
>"contemporary Italian author" was odd. Perhaps, Giovanni Vincenzo
>Gravina was a pseudonym used by a contemporary author.
>
>Oscar Wilde died in 1900. He implausibly received credit in 2008.
>Thriller writer John D. MacDonald used the expression in a 1974 novel,
>but he credited Gravina. Movie critic Roger Ebert used the saying in
>1976, but he credited John D. MacDonald.
>
>Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article:
>https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/08/03/bore-solitude/
>
>Feedback and illuminating citations would be welcome.
>Garson O'Toole
>QuoteInvestigator.com
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org