“The calendar says I had known him only a few months but there exist friendships which develop their own inner duration, their… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“(T)here exist friendships which develop their own inner duration, their own eons of transparent time.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I cannot help feeling there is something essentially wrong about love. Friends may quarrel or drift apart, close relations too, but there… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Vivian Bloodmark, a philosophical friend of mine, in later years, used to say that while the scientist sees everything that happens in… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Cynthia had been on friendly terms with an eccentric librarian called Porlock who in the last years of his dusty life had… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“It is desirable that the inmate should not have at all, or if he does, should immediately himself suppress nocturnal dreams whose content might be incompatible with the condition and status of the prisoner, such as: resplendent landscapes, outings with friends, family dinners, as well as sexual intercourse with persons who in real life and in the waking state would… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
“He was one of those persons whom one loves not because of some lustrous streak of talent (this retired businessman possessed none),… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“...it turned out to be only our former chauffeur, Tsiganov, who had thought nothing of riding all the way from St. Petersburg,… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I have often noticed that we are inclined to endow our friends with the stability of type that literary characters acquire in the reader's mind. [...] Whatever evolution this or that popular character has gone through between the book covers, his fate is fixed in our minds, and, similarly, we expect our friends to follow this or that logical and… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
“Whatever evolution this or that popular character has gone through between the book covers, his fate is fixed in our minds, and, similarly, we expect our friends to follow this or that logical and conventional pattern we have fixed for them. Thus X will never compose the immortal music that would clash with the second-rate symphonies he has accustomed us… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
“It had been in a Paris house, with many people around, and my dear friend Jules Darboux, wishing to do me a… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“...under no circumstances would he [Humbert Humbert] have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Ami azt illeti, Vannak kezdtek nagyon tetszeni a fák is, a csodák is meg az Adák is.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“It isn’t possible. I cannot imagine it. Come on over here, you foolish little doe, and tell me on what day I shall die.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Precautions to be taken in the case Of freak reincarnation: what to do On suddenly discovering that you Are now a young and vulnerable… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
