Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Vladimir Nabokov

Quote by Vladimir Nabokov

Author

Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov

Russian-born American novelist, best known for his novel 'Lolita'. Nabokov is renowned for his unique literary style and profound use of language and symbolism. more

You May Also Like

“If you know something bad is coming, can't you plan to avoid it or try to do something differently?" said Charles. Probably", said the Cartographer, "but then the good events would have no flavor. The joy you find in life is paid for by suffering that comes later, just as sometimes, the suffering is redeemed by a joy unexpected. That's the trade that makes a life worth living.”

IfsKnowsTryingSaidSometimesLife IsJoySufferingPlansEventsPaidTradeUnexpectedFlavorWorth LivingRedeemedLife Worth Living
Book:Dawn of the Dragons: Here, There Be Dragons; The Search for the Red Dragon
Create image

“One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.”

YearsMindProblemMotivationalSchoolFoundStuffEffectsFinalsConsiderationExaminationCoercionDistastefulCrammingProblems In School
Book:A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein
Create image

“The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks for himself resemble a fine painting, where the light and shade are correct, the tone sustained, the colour perfectly harmonised; it is true to life. On the other hand, the intellectual attainments of the mere man of learning are like a large palette, full of all sorts of colours, which at most are systematically arranged, but devoid of harmony, connection and meaning.”

ThinkingMenHandsLightPaintingFineIntellectualConnectionsHarmonyMereToneColourShadeAttainmentTrue LifePalette
Book:The Art of Literature: a Series of Essays in Arthur Schopenhauer...
Create image

“Just as one spoils the stomach by overfeeding and thereby impairs the whole body, so can one overload and choke the mind by giving it too much nourishment. For the more one reads the fewer are the traces left of what one has read; the mind is like a tablet that has been written over and over. Hence it is impossible to reflect; and it is only by reflection that one can assimilate what one has read. If one reads straight ahead without pondering over it later, what has been read does not take root, but is for the most part lost.”

IfsGivingMindDoeHas BeensWholeBodyLostLeftToo MuchImpossibleWrittenReflectionRootsOver ItStomachFewerSpoilChokeNourishmentPonderingTabletsOverload
Book:Essays of Schopenhauer
Create image