Quotes from Vladimir Nabokov

The problem lies not with the characters within the novel, but with the reader itself.

You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy... in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs... the little deadly demon among the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power.

I found Dolores Haze at the kitchen table, consuming a wedge of pie, with her eyes fixed on her script. They rose to meet mine with a kind of celestial vapidity.

Ta caÅ'a psychiatria to nic innego, jak tylko swoisty mikrokosmos komunizmu [...]. Lepiej by zostawili ludziom ich kÅ'opoty osobiste. Nasuwa siÄ™ bowiem pytanie, czy kÅ'opoty nie sÄ… jedynÄ… rzeczÄ… na Å›wiecie, którÄ… ludzie mogÄ… mie? na wÅ'asno???

A soap bubble is as real as a fossil tooth.

No animal will touch a person's tongue. When a lion has finished a traveler, bones and all, he always leaves the man's tongue lying like that in the desert (making a negligent gesture). I doubt it. It's a well known mystery.

And I catch myself thinking today that our long journey had only been defiled with a sinuous trail of slime the lovely, trustful, dreamy, enormous country that by then, in retrospect, was no more to us than a collection of dog-eared maps, ruined tour books, old tires, and her sobs in the night - every night, every night - the moment I feigned sleep.

Long after her death I felt her thoughts floating through mine. Long before we met we had had the same dreams.

A sentyment staje siÄ™ uci??liwy. W koÅ"cu jest coÅ› nazbyt fizycznego w próbie zachowania czÄ…stki dzieciÅ"stwa na swoim mostku. - Nie pan pierwszy sprowadza wiarÄ™ do zmysÅ'u dotyku.

twirling in his fingers the mummy of a cigar

Wspomnienie nie dawa?o mu spokoju. Mo?na je by?o wytrzyma? przez chwil? i to tylko z perspektywy nieuleczalnej choroby, w wyra?nym przeczuciu nadchodz?cej ?mierci.

The moral sense in mortals is the duty. We have to pay on mortal sense of beauty.

nale?aÅ'a jednak do tych kobiet, które Å'Ä…czÄ… w sobie zdrowÄ… urodÄ™ z histerycznÄ… Å'zawliwoÅ›ciÄ…, wybuchy liryczne z bardzo praktycznym, banalnym myÅ›leniem, podÅ'y charakter z sentymentalizmem, ospaÅ'Ä… bierno?? z trze?wÄ… umiejÄ™tnoÅ›ciÄ… wysyÅ'ania bli?nich na poszukiwanie wiatru w polu.

It stood to reason that if the evil designer – the destroyer of minds, the friend of fever – had concealed the key of the pattern with such monstrous care, that key must be as precious as life itself and, when found, would regain for Timofey Pnin his everyday health, his everyday world

Szeret mindent, amit a szép lányok szeretnek – mondta Van –, a bálokat, az orchideákat és a Cseresznyéskert-et.

You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy,... in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs,...the little deadly demon...; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power.

I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no purpose than to get rid of that book....

I am looking at him, I am witnessing a unique physiological phenomenon: John Shade perceiving and transforming the world, taking it in and taking it apart, re-combining its elements in the very process of storing them up so as to produce at some unspecified date an organic miracle, a fusion of image and music, a line of verse.

To love with all one's soul and leave the rest to fate, was the simple rule she heeded.

A környezetváltozás olyan hagyományos téveszme, melybe tönkrement szerelemek és tüdÅ'k vetik bizalmukat.

Mindkettejüket szórakoztatták az élet ifjonti ügyetlenkedései, mindkettejüket elszomorította a múló idÅ'vel megérkezÅ' bölcsesség.

As palavras sem a experiência não teriam qualquer significado.

My mouth to him was a splendid cave full of priceless treasures, but I denied him entrance.

This night the password was silence.