--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed…" description: "\"“Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed quite accurately that his subject was the threefold formula of human life: the irretrievability of the past,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/brian-boyd-27592_human-life_writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed_1424915.jpg" --- # Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed quite accurately… ![“Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed quite accurately that his subject was the threefold formula of human life: the irretrievability of the past, the insatiability of the present, and the unforeseeability of the future.” quote by Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/brian-boyd-27592_human-life_writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed_1424915.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/brian-boyd-27592_human-life_writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed_1424915.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/brian-boyd-27592_human-life_writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed_1424915.jpg) > ““Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed quite accurately that his subject was the threefold formula of human life: the irretrievability of the past, the insatiability of the present, and the unforeseeability of the future.”” [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote highlights three perpetual human concerns: longing for an unattainable past, endless desire for the present, and uncertainty about the future. **In simple terms:** We are constantly driven by past loss, present craving, and future unknowns. Key Takeaway Embrace each moment while acknowledging its fleeting nature. Themes nostalgia desire uncertainty human condition literature Mood melancholic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - personal reflection - creative writing - philosophical essays - life planning Key Concepts temporal longing existential reflection psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance appreciation of the past with living fully now? - What strategies help you cope with future uncertainty? A Different Perspective It may oversimplify complex human motivations into a fixed formula. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Human life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“Interviewer: What surprises you in life? Nabokov: ...the marvel of consciousness- that sudden window swinging open on a sunlit landscape amidst the night of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/interviewer-what-surprises-you-in-life-nabokov-the-marvel-of/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [Popper and Nabokov are very different people in some ways - and I'm ready to devote large chunks of my life to both of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/popper-and-nabokov-are-very-different-people-in-some-ways-and-i-m/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [“I told them what I had discovered about Nabokov's sentences: Because the word string and the thoughts behind the words are so original, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniels-leslie/i-told-them-what-i-had-discovered-about-nabokov-s-sentences-because/) Daniels, Leslie > [Vladimir Nabokov on 'Bleak House' or Henry James on 'The House of the Seven Gables' prove that reading can be an exciting subject in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/vladimir-nabokov-on-bleak-house-or-henry-james-on-the-house-of-the/) [Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/) > [“You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style." —Vladimir Nabokov”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-langtry/you-can-always-count-on-a-murderer-for-a-fancy-prose-style-vladimir/) [Leslie Langtry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-langtry/) > [In the reading and writing life, delight, for me, is where the mystery lies. Easy enough to figure out how scenes of violence or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-mcdermott/in-the-reading-and-writing-life-delight-for-me-is-where-the-mystery/) [Alice McDermott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-mcdermott/) > [What did Nabokov and Joyce have in common, apart from the poor teeth and the great prose? Exile, and decades of near pauperism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/what-did-nabokov-and-joyce-have-in-common-apart-from-the-poor-teeth/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [Vladimir Nabokov said the two great evils of the 20th century were Marx and Freud. He was absolutely correct.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/vladimir-nabokov-said-the-two-great-evils-of-the-20th-century-were/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [“Nabokov complained he was afflicted with total recall, an affliction of which he could be miraculously cured by the presence of a biographer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-schiff/nabokov-complained-he-was-afflicted-with-total-recall-an-affliction/) [Stacy Schiff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-schiff/) > [“I fear no hell, just as I expect no heaven. Nabokov summed up a nonbeliever’s view of the cosmos, and our place in it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-tayler/i-fear-no-hell-just-as-i-expect-no-heaven-nabokov-summed-up-a/) [Jeffrey Tayler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-tayler/) > [After so many attempts to mount a musical version of 'Lolita,' the project was well and truly dead by the summer of 1971. Chief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-weinman/after-so-many-attempts-to-mount-a-musical-version-of-lolita-the/) [Sarah Weinman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-weinman/) > [I think every writer has a book that haunts them, and on some level, every book you write is a reaction to it. 'Lolita'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marisha-pessl/i-think-every-writer-has-a-book-that-haunts-them-and-on-some-level/) [Marisha Pessl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marisha-pessl/) > [Translated literature can be fascinating. There's something so intriguing about reading the text second hand - a piece of prose that has already been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-kitamura/translated-literature-can-be-fascinating-there-s-something-so/) [Katie Kitamura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-kitamura/) > [“She did not believe Fate as painstaking as her husband; she was more inclined to take matters into her own hands. She had ample…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-schiff/she-did-not-believe-fate-as-painstaking-as-her-husband-she-was-more/) [Stacy Schiff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-schiff/) > [“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/) ## More by Brian Boyd > [Popper and Nabokov are very different people in some ways - and I'm ready to devote large chunks of my life to both of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/popper-and-nabokov-are-very-different-people-in-some-ways-and-i-m/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [Any artist who really engages with the problems in their medium at that moment and tries to deepen the problems is likely to discover…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/any-artist-who-really-engages-with-the-problems-in-their-medium-at/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [Perhaps the most demanding trick in all of art is to know ways that are going to capture the attention of an audience right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/perhaps-the-most-demanding-trick-in-all-of-art-is-to-know-ways-that/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [There's a young Danish guy who has done a lot of work from an evolutionary perspective, Mathias Clasen. 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It's the bureaucrats who want to cut costs who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/scientists-to-give-them-credit-do-not-think-of-the-humanities-in-a/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [I would be very surprised if on another planet we discovered a species as intelligent as humans that didn't have narrative, or didn't have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/i-would-be-very-surprised-if-on-another-planet-we-discovered-a/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [There is behavioral ecology, which looks closely at the difference different ecologies make to behavior and other features of animals and humans. There's evolutionary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/there-is-behavioral-ecology-which-looks-closely-at-the-difference/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [It seems to me to make as much sense to talk about literature as a large-scale human phenomenon without bringing in evolution as it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/it-seems-to-me-to-make-as-much-sense-to-talk-about-literature-as-a/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [If an artwork never gets any attention from anybody, then obviously it's got problems. If it gains attention from a very small elite, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/if-an-artwork-never-gets-any-attention-from-anybody-then-obviously-it/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [Literature often gets taught nowadays as a record of the sins and shortcomings of the past. I see literature and the arts very differently:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/literature-often-gets-taught-nowadays-as-a-record-of-the-sins-and/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [I guess both Nabokov and Popper had, in different ways, immunized me against the fashion for French-influenced literary theory in the '70s, '80s, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/i-guess-both-nabokov-and-popper-had-in-different-ways-immunized-me/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [I think like almost everything in evolution, the old forms persist. New forms come along - not always, of course; there are species and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/i-think-like-almost-everything-in-evolution-the-old-forms-persist-new/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) > [In fiction the story lives the more everyone comes to life, the more each character seems to exist in his or her own right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/in-fiction-the-story-lives-the-more-everyone-comes-to-life-the-more/) [Brian Boyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) [Explore all 20 Brian Boyd quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/) ## More Human life quotes > [Entertainment is a sacred pursuit when done well. When done well, it raises the quality of human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-chabon/entertainment-is-a-sacred-pursuit-when-done-well-when-done-well-it/) [Michael Chabon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-chabon/) > [“Conception is the beginning of human life. From the time that an ovum is fertilized a new life begins that is neither that of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/declaration-on-procured-abortion-congregation-for-the-doctrine-of-the-faith-1974/conception-is-the-beginning-of-human-life-from-the-time-that-an-ovum/) Declaration on Procured Abortion Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 1974 > [To hurry through the rise and fall of a fine, full sentence is like defying the role of time in human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/to-hurry-through-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-fine-full-sentence-is-like/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Half the misery of human life might be extinguished if men would alleviate the general curse they lie under by mutual offices of compassion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/half-the-misery-of-human-life-might-be-extinguished-if-men-would/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [Art is not a pleasure, a solace, or an amusement; art is great matter. Art is an organ of human life, transmitting man's reasonable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/art-is-not-a-pleasure-a-solace-or-an-amusement-art-is-great-matter/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I free slaves because I believe we are all created equal. I just can't think of anything that has a higher purpose than putting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-williams/i-free-slaves-because-i-believe-we-are-all-created-equal-i-just-can-t/) [Virginia Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-williams/) > [Human life consists of doing certain things ... to take part in the life of the community; to be able to talk about subjects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/human-life-consists-of-doing-certain-things-to-take-part-in-the-life/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [There seems to be a kind of order in the universe…in the movement of the stars and the turning of the Earth and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/there-seems-to-be-a-kind-of-order-in-the-universe-in-the-movement-of/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [I think we are not spend our life as it pick.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankit-narwal/i-think-we-are-not-spend-our-life-as-it-pick/) ANKIT NARWAL > [“Whenever I think about ancient cultures nostalgia seizes me. 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Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-s-smith/) > [“You finally fell in love, I see,” said Salo. “Only an Earthling year ago,” said Constant. “It took us that long to realize that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/you-finally-fell-in-love-i-see-said-salo-only-an-earthling-year-ago/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [In these years we are witnessing the gigantic spectacle of innumerable human lives wandering about lost in their own labyrinths, through not having anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-ortega-y-gasset/in-these-years-we-are-witnessing-the-gigantic-spectacle-of/) [Jose Ortega y Gasset](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jose-ortega-y-gasset/) [Browse all 2,309 Human life quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-life/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed quite accurately that his subject was the threefold formula of human life: the irretrievability of the past, the insatiability of the present, and the unforeseeability of the future.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brian Boyd" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed-quite-accurately-that-his/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Human life" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed-quite-accurately-that-his/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/brian-boyd-27592_human-life_writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed_1424915.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/brian-boyd-27592_human-life_writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed_1424915.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/149/brian-boyd-27592_human-life_writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed_1424915.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed quite accurately that his subject was the threefold formula of…” — Brian Boyd", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Brian Boyd", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-boyd/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Writing of Pushkin, Nabokov once observed...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed-quite-accurately-that-his/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-boyd/writing-of-pushkin-nabokov-once-observed-quite-accurately-that-his/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```