First time Quote by 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 of darkness. Although the two are identical twins, man, as a rule, views the prenatal abyss with more calm than the one he is heading for (at some forty-five hundred heartbeats an hour). I know, however, of a young chronophobiac who experienced something like panic when looking for the first time at homemade movies that had been taken a few weeks before his birth. He saw a world that was practically unchanged-the same house, the same people- and then realized that he did not exist there at all and that nobody mourned his absence. He caught a glimpse of his mother waving from an upstairs window, and that unfamiliar gesture disturbed him, as if it were some mysterious farewell. But what particularly frightened him was the sight of a brand-new baby carriage standing there on the porch, with the smug, encroaching air of a coffin; even that was empty, as if, in the reverse course of events, his very bones had disintegrated.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, 1962
Life is fleeting, sand between two vast, dark eternities, prompting existential anxiety.
In simple terms: Life is brief between darkness.
Embrace the present, accept mortality.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- grief counseling
- midlife crisis
- creative inspiration
- philosophical reflection
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- What does the 'abyss' represent for you?
- How do you find meaning amid impermanence?
The metaphor may overwhelm, causing paralysis.