--- title: "3 Too far Quotes By Vladimir Nabokov" description: "3 Too far quotes by Vladimir Nabokov. Plus more from Vladimir Nabokov and more Too far sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/af0/vladimir-nabokov-198_children_what-i-heard-was-but-the-melody-of-child_398360.jpg" --- > [“What I heard was but the melody of children at play, nothing but that, and so limpid was the air that within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/what-i-heard-was-but-the-melody-of-children-at-play-nothing-but-that/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/af0/vladimir-nabokov-198_children_what-i-heard-was-but-the-melody-of-child_398360.jpg) > [“Poor L. We are sorry that you left so soon. We are even sorrier to have inveigled our Esmeralda and mermaid into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/poor-l-we-are-sorry-that-you-left-so-soon-we-are-even-sorrier-to-have/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b2/vladimir-nabokov-198_art_poor-l-we-are-sorry-that-you-left-so-soo_2180328.jpg) > [“One day, soon after her disappearance, an attack of abominable nausea forced me to pull up on the ghost of an old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/one-day-soon-after-her-disappearance-an-attack-of-abominable-nausea/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d0e/vladimir-nabokov-198_disappearance_one-day-soon-after-her-disappearance-an_2568733.jpg) ## Other authors on Too far ## More by Vladimir Nabokov > [And the rest is rust and stardust.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/and-the-rest-is-rust-and-stardust/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [There is no science without fancy and no art without fact.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/there-is-no-science-without-fancy-and-no-art-without-fact/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“My solemn exasperation was to her the silence of love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/my-solemn-exasperation-was-to-her-the-silence-of-love/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [ “...under no circumstances would he \[Humbert Humbert\] have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/under-no-circumstances-would-he-humbert-humbert-have-interfered-with/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/the-cradle-rocks-above-an-abyss-and-common-sense-tells-us-that-our/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“Ami azt illeti, Vannak kezdtek nagyon tetszeni a fák is, a csodák is meg az Adák is.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/ami-azt-illeti-vannak-kezdtek-nagyon-tetszeni-a-f-k-is-a-csod-k-is/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/we-live-not-only-in-a-world-of-thoughts-but-also-in-a-world-of-things/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“As palavras sem a experiência não teriam qualquer significado.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/as-palavras-sem-a-experi-ncia-n-o-teriam-qualquer-significado/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“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.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/it-isn-t-possible-i-cannot-imagine-it-come-on-over-here-you-foolish/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“Precautions to be taken in the case Of freak reincarnation: what to do On suddenly discovering that you Are now a young and vulnerable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/precautions-to-be-taken-in-the-case-of-freak-reincarnation-what-to-do/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [And this is the only immortality you and i may share, my Lolita.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/and-this-is-the-only-immortality-you-and-i-may-share-my-lolita/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“Be true to your Dick.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/be-true-to-your-dick/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“It is indeed a tricky name. It is often misspelt, because the eye tends to regard the "a" of the first syllable as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/it-is-indeed-a-tricky-name-it-is-often-misspelt-because-the-eye-tends/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“(T)here exist friendships which develop their own inner duration, their own eons of transparent time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/t-here-exist-friendships-which-develop-their-own-inner-duration-their/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) > [“She was all rose and honey.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/she-was-all-rose-and-honey/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-nabokov/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-far/vladimir-nabokov/#itemlist", "name": "3 Too far Quotes By Vladimir Nabokov", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What I heard was but the melody of children at play, nothing but that, and so limpid was the air that within this vapor of blended voices, majestic and minute, remote and magically near, frank and divinely enigmatic—one could hear now and then, as if released, an almost articulate spurt of vivid laughter, or the crack of a bat, or the clatter of a toy wagon, but it was all really too far for the eye to distinguish any movement in the lightly etched streets. I stood listening to that musical vibration from my lofty slope, to those flashes of separate cries with a kind of demure murmur for background, and then I knew that the hopelessly poignant thing was not Lolita’s absence from my side, but the absence of her voice from that concord.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Vladimir Nabokov" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/what-i-heard-was-but-the-melody-of-children-at-play-nothing-but-that/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/af0/vladimir-nabokov-198_children_what-i-heard-was-but-the-melody-of-child_398360.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/af0/vladimir-nabokov-198_children_what-i-heard-was-but-the-melody-of-child_398360.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/af0/vladimir-nabokov-198_children_what-i-heard-was-but-the-melody-of-child_398360.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What I heard was but the melody of children at play, nothing but that, and so limpid was the air that within…” — Vladimir Nabokov", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Poor L. We are sorry that you left so soon. We are even sorrier to have inveigled our Esmeralda and mermaid into a naughty prank. That sort of game will never again be played with you, firebird. We apollo [apologize]. Remembrance, embers ans membranes of beauty make artists and morons loose all self-control. Pilots of tremendous air ships and coarse, smelly coachmen are known to have been driven insane by a pair of green eyes and a copper curl. We wished to admire and amuse you, BOP [Bird of Paradise]. We went too far. I, Van, went too far. We regret that shameful, though basically innocent scene. These are times of emotional stress and reconditioning. Destroy and forget. Tenderly yours, A & V (in alphabetic order).”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Vladimir Nabokov" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-nabokov/poor-l-we-are-sorry-that-you-left-so-soon-we-are-even-sorrier-to-have/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b2/vladimir-nabokov-198_art_poor-l-we-are-sorry-that-you-left-so-soo_2180328.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b2/vladimir-nabokov-198_art_poor-l-we-are-sorry-that-you-left-so-soo_2180328.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b2/vladimir-nabokov-198_art_poor-l-we-are-sorry-that-you-left-so-soo_2180328.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Poor L. We are sorry that you left so soon. We are even sorrier to have inveigled our Esmeralda and mermaid…” — Vladimir Nabokov", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“One day, soon after her disappearance, an attack of abominable nausea forced me to pull up on the ghost of an old mountain road that now accompanied, now traversed a brand new highway, with its population of asters bathing in the detached warmth of a pale-blue afternoon in late summer. After coughing myself inside out I rested a while on a boulder and then thinking the sweet air might do me good, walked a little way toward a low stone parapet on the precipice side of the highway. Small grasshoppers spurted out of the withered roadside weeds. A very light cloud was opening its arms and moving toward a slightly more substantial one belonging to another, more sluggish, heavenlogged system. As I approached the friendly abyss, I grew aware of a melodious unity of sounds rising like vapor from a small mining town that lay at my feet, in a fold of the valley. One could make out the geometry of the streets between blocks of red and gray roofs, and green puffs of trees, and a serpentine stream, and the rich, ore-like glitter of the city dump, and beyond the town, roads crisscrossing the crazy quilt of dark and pale fields, and behind it all, great timbered mountains. But even brighter than those quietly rejoicing colors - for there are colors and shades that seem to enjoy themselves in good company - both brighter and dreamier to the ear than they were to the eye, was that vapory vibration of accumulated sounds that never ceased for a moment, as it rose to the lip of granite where I stood wiping my foul mouth. And soon I realized that all these sounds were of one nature, that no other sounds but these came from the streets of the transparent town, with the women at home and the men away. Reader! What I heard was but the melody of children at play, nothing but that, and so limpid was the air that within this vapor of blended voices, majestic and minute, remote and magically near, frank and divinely enigmatic - one could hear now and then, as if released, an almost articulate spurt of vivid laughter, or the crack of a bat, or the clatter of a toy wagon, but it was all really too far for the eye to distinguish any movement in the lightly etched streets. 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