Quotes from Vladimir Nabokov

The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the book or the girl in the book, but with the mind that conceived and composed the book

my knees were reflections of knees in rippling water

Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita. Repeat till the page is full, printer.

Nichts auf der Welt verabscheue ich mehr als kollektive Aktivität, diese öffentliche Badeanstalt, wo sich die Behaarten und die Glitschigen zu einer Multiplizierung der Mittelmäßigkeit treffen.

Biliriz ki bu arada denilerek an?lan Avustralya aksanl? yabanc? yada komik bir hobisi olan Amca birazdan sahneye gelmeyecek olsalar, adlar? piyeste hiç geçmeyecekti. Gerçekten de bu arada sözü, basmakal?p edebiyat?n masonik simgesi, an?lan kiÅŸinin asl?nda piyesin ana karakeri olduÄŸunu göreceÄŸimizin kesin emaresidir.

Blood-black nothingness began to spin. A system of cells interlinked, within cells interlinked, within cells interlinked within one stem. And dreadfully distinct against the dark, a tall white fountain played.

Ama Gogol'un tüfekleri havada as?l? durur ve ateÅŸlenmez; zira onun an??t?rmalar?n?n cazibesi de, bu an??t?rmalardan hiçbir ÅŸey ç?kmayacak olmas?ndan kaynaklan?r.

At night, my dreams rhyme, and all day I have an aftertaste of insomnia.

Ma l'ultimissimo giro di pista della sua vita era stato felice e gli aveva dimostrato come la morte non sia altro che una questione di stile.

L'estil i l'estructura són l'essència d'un bon llibre; les grans idees són estupideses. El estilo y la estructura son a esencia de un buen libro; las grandes ideas son estupideces

the book like a sleigh left my lap...

But reality soon asserted itself.

She had one of those tender complexions that after a good cry get all blurred and inflamed, and morbidly alluring

Je suis saine de corps, et absolument obscène dans mes pensées, ma parole, mes actes.

Me da vergüenza tener miedo, pero estoy desesperadamente asustado, el error corre a través de mí con siniestro rugido, como un torrente; y mi cuerpo vibra como un puente sobre una cascada, y es tanto el ruido que necesito gritar para escucharme.

Me da vergüenza tener miedo, pero estoy desesperadamente asustado, el terror corre a través de mí con siniestro rugido, como un torrente; y mi cuerpo vibra como un puente sobre una cascada, y es tanto el ruido que necesito gritar para escucharme.

I have tried to teach you to read books for the sake of their form, their visions, their art. I have tried to teach you to feel a shiver of artistic satisfaction, to share not the emotions of the people in the book but the emotions of its author — the joys and difficulties of creation. We did not talk around books, about books; we went to the center of this or that masterpiece, to the live heart of the matter.

There are nights when as soon as I lie down My bed sails off to Russia.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. ... But in my arms she was always Lolita.

On all this random occasions, I seemed to myself as implausible a father as she seemed to be a daughter.

She combined a cool forwardness -the overflow of what I think is called "poise"- with a shyness and sadness that caused her detached way of selecting her words to seem as unnatural as the intonation of a professor of "speech.

Mi coprii la faccia con la mano e piansi le lacrime più cocenti che avessi mai versato. Le sentii serpeggiare tra le dita e giù per il mento, e scottarmi, e mi si chiuse il naso, e non riuscivo a smettere, e poi lei mi toccò il polso. «Se mi tocchi muoio» dissi. «Sei sicura che non verrai con me? Non c'è speranza che tu venga? Dimmi soltanto questo». «No» rispose. «No, caro, no». Non mi aveva mai chiamato caro.

On all those random occasions, I seemed to myself as implausible a father as she seemed to be a daughter.

Gyvenime, lekian?iame visu grei?iu, su trenksmu atsiv?r? šonin?s durel?s, pro kurias ?siverž? juodos amžinyb?s raudojimas, v?jo g?si? kauksmu nustelb?s vienišos ž?ties riksm?.