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Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

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Famous Vladimir Nabokov Quotes

“To a greater or lesser extent there goes on in every person a struggle between two forces: the longing for privacy and the urge to go places: the introversion, interest directed within oneself toward one's own inner life of vigorous thought and fancy; and extroversion, interest directed outward, toward the external world of people and tangible values.”

PeopleWorldPersonsTwoValuesForceInterestStruggleGreaterJourneyGoes OnLongingOneselfFancyPrivacyUrgesTangibleVigorousInner LifeIntroversion
Book:Lectures on Russian Literature
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“I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.... My hemmings and hawings over the telephone cause long-distance callers to switch from their native English to pathetic French. At parties, if I attempt to entertain people with a good story, I have to go back to every other sentence for oral erasures and inserts.... In these circumstances nobody should ask me to submit to an interview if by "interview" a chat between two normal human beings is implied.”

PeopleIfsThinkingShouldWritingHumansChildrenLongTwoStoriesAsksSpeakCausesHuman BeingsPartyGeniusCircumstancesNormalAnxietyDistanceSentencesAsk MeInterviewsNativeSubmitTelephonesPatheticDistinguishedGood StoryLong DistanceImpliedSocial AnxietyInsert
Author:Vladimir Nabokov
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“- Might it console you to know that I expect nothing but torture from her return? That I regard you as a bird of paradise? She shook her head. - That my admiration for you is painfully strong? - I want Van – she cried – and not intangible admiration. - Intangible? You goose. You my gauge it, you may brush it once very lightly with the knuckles of you gloved hand. I said knuckles. I said once. That will do. I can't kiss you. Not even your burning face. Good-bye, pet. Tell Edmond to take a nap after he returns. I shall need him at two in the morning.”

KnowsWantNeedsMaySaidI CanTwoHandsMightFacesStrongMorningReturnKissingBirdRegardBurningTortureParadisePetAdmirationCriedBrushesVansByeGeeseNapsGood ByeConsoleIntangibleGaugesKnucklesExpect Nothing
Author:Vladimir Nabokov
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“There are two kinds of visual memory: one when you skillfully recreate an image in the laboratory of your mind, with your eyes open (and then I see Annabel in such general terms as: "honey-colored skin," "thin arms," "brown bobbed hair," "long lashes," "big bright mouth"); and the other when you instantly evoke, with shut eyes, on the dark innerside of your eyelids, the objective, absolutely optical replica of a beloved face, a little ghost in natural colors (and this is how I see Lolita).”

MindKindLittlesLongTwoBigsEyeFacesTermNaturalMemoriesDarkColorHairArmsMouthsSkinsGhostObjectivesBelovedVisualsBrownHoneyLaboratoryEvokeLashesEyelidsReplicaLong Lashes
Book:The Annotated Lolita: Revised and Updated
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