“A certain man once lost a diamond cuff-link in the wide blue sea, and twenty years later, on the exact day, a Friday apparently, he was eating a large fish - but there was no diamond inside. That’s what I like about coincidence.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster.
This is the whole of the story and we might have left it at that had there not been profit and pleasure in the telling; and although there is plenty of space on a gravestone to contain, bound in moss, the abridged version of a man's life, detail is always welcome.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“[...] leaving for a day or two that hopeless sense of loss which makes beauty what it is: a distant lone tree against golden heavens; ripples of light on the inner curve of a bridge; a thing impossible to capture.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“This is the whole of the story and we might have left it at that had there not been profit and pleasure in the telling; and although there is plenty of space on a gravestone to contain, bound in moss, the abridged version of a man's life, detail is always welcome.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“No you can't take a pistol and plug a girl you don't even know simply because she attracts you.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Although there is plenty of space on a gravestone to contain, bound in moss, the abridged version of a man's life, detail is always welcome.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“[S]urely the Cupid serving him was lefthanded, with a weak chin and no imagination.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Uncle alone in the house with the children said he'd dress up to amuse them. After a long wait, as he did not appear, they went down and saw a masked man putting the table silver into a bag. 'Oh, Uncle,' they cried in delight. 'Yes, isn't my make-up good?' said Uncle, taking his mask off. Thus goes the Hegelian syllogism of humour. Thesis: Uncle made himself up as a burglar (a laugh for the children); antithesis: it WAS a burglar (a laugh for the reader); synthesis: it still was Uncle (fooling the reader).”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Имало едно време в Берлин, Германия, един човек на име Албинус. Той бил богат, почтен, щастлив. Един ден напуснал жена си заради млада любовница. Обичал, не бил обичан и животът му завършил злополучно.
Това е цялата история и бихме могли да я оставим дотук, ако от разказването й нямаше полза и удоволствие; и въпреки че на надгробната плоча има достатъчно място за обраслата с мъх кратка версия на човешкия живот, подробностите винаги са добре дошли.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Албинус никога преди не беше виждал сълзи с такъв размер и блясък.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Когато забременя, очите ѝ придобиха онзи празен израз на задоволство, сякаш съзерцаваше новия си вътрешен свят; безгрижната й походка се превърна във внимателно патешко поклащане и беше способна лакомо да поглъща пълни шепи сняг, които събираше набързо, докато никой не я гледа. Албинус полагаше всички усилия да се грижи за нея – извеждаше я на дълги бавни разходки; внимаваше да си ляга рано и да не се удря в опасните ъгли на мебелите, докато минаваше покрай тях. А нощем сънуваше, че се натъква на младо момиче, което лежи с разперени ръце и крака на горещ пуст плаж, и в съня го обхващаше внезапен страх, че жена му ще го хване.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Въздухът беше натежал от сладникавата миризма на смокиново дърво, имаше я тази банална смесица от лунна светлина и далечна музика, която така въздейства на обикновените души.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Той се ожени за нея, защото просто така се случи. Главният виновник за техния съюз беше едно пътуване до планината в нейната компания, плюс дебелия й брат и изключително атлетичната й братовчедка, която, слава богу, си изкълчи глезена в Понтресина. Имаше нещо толкова изискано, толкова ефирно в Елизабет, а смехът й бе така добродушен! За да избегнат набезите на множеството си берлински познати, те се ожениха в Мюнхен. Кестените тъкмо цъфтяха. Една много скъпа табакера се изгуби в тайнствена градина. Един от келнерите в хотела говореше седем езика. Оказа се, че Елизабет има нежен малък белег от операция на апандисит.
Тя беше вярна малка душичка, хрисима и нежна. Любовта й беше като бяла лилия, но понякога избухваше в пламъци и в такива моменти Албинус се самозалъгваше, че не му трябва никоя друга.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“(Миналото беше на сигурно място в клетката. Защо да не погледне?)”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
“Марго бавно започна да се надига по-високо и по-високо, като змия, която се развива.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Laughter in the Dark
Vladimir Nabokov
Born place: in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
Born date April 22, 1899
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“Obviously, in those situations, we lose the sale. But we’re not trying to maximize each and every transaction. Instead, we’re trying to build a lifelong relationship with each customer, one phone call at a time. A lot of people may think it’s strange that an Internet company is so focused on the telephone, when only about 5 percent of our sales happen through the telephone. In fact, most of our phone calls don’t even result in sales. But what we’ve found is that on average, every customer contacts us at least once sometime during his or her lifetime, and we just need to make sure that we use that opportunity to create a lasting memory. The majority of phone calls don’t result in an immediate order. Sometimes a customer may be calling because it’s her first time returning an item, and she just wants a little help stepping through the process. Other times, a customer may call because there’s a wedding coming up this weekend and he wants a little fashion advice. And sometimes, we get customers who call simply because they’re a little lonely and want someone to talk to. I’m reminded of a time when I was in Santa Monica, California, a few years ago at a Skechers sales conference. After a long night of bar-hopping, a small group of us headed up to someone’s hotel room to order some food. My friend from Skechers tried to order a pepperoni pizza from the room-service menu, but was disappointed to learn that the hotel we were staying at did not deliver hot food after 11:00 PM. We had missed the deadline by several hours. In our inebriated state, a few of us cajoled her into calling Zappos to try to order a pizza. She took us up on our dare, turned on the speakerphone, and explained to the (very) patient Zappos rep that she was staying in a Santa Monica hotel and really craving a pepperoni pizza, that room service was no longer delivering hot food, and that she wanted to know if there was anything Zappos could do to help. The Zappos rep was initially a bit confused by the request, but she quickly recovered and put us on hold. She returned two minutes later, listing the five closest places in the Santa Monica area that were still open and delivering pizzas at that time. Now, truth be told, I was a little hesitant to include this story because I don’t actually want everyone who reads this book to start calling Zappos and ordering pizza. But I just think it’s a fun story to illustrate the power of not having scripts in your call center and empowering your employees to do what’s right for your brand, no matter how unusual or bizarre the situation. As for my friend from Skechers? After that phone call, she’s now a customer for life. Top 10 Ways to Instill Customer Service into Your Company 1. Make customer service a priority for the whole company, not just a department. A customer service attitude needs to come from the top. 2. Make WOW a verb that is part of your company’s everyday vocabulary. 3. Empower and trust your customer service reps. Trust that they want to provide great service… because they actually do. Escalations to a supervisor should be rare. 4. Realize that it’s okay to fire customers who are insatiable or abuse your employees. 5. Don’t measure call times, don’t force employees to upsell, and don’t use scripts. 6. Don’t hide your 1-800 number. It’s a message not just to your customers, but to your employees as well. 7. View each call as an investment in building a customer service brand, not as an expense you’re seeking to minimize. 8. Have the entire company celebrate great service. Tell stories of WOW experiences to everyone in the company. 9. Find and hire people who are already passionate about customer service. 10. Give great service to everyone: customers, employees, and vendors.”
― Tony Hsieh, quote from Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
“Indian companies also had clear and numerous weaknesses. The most important ones were the inability to separate ownership from management; a lack of focus and business strategy; a short-term approach to business, leading to an absence of investment in employees and in product development; insensitivity to the customer, largely because of uncompetitive markets, but resulting in weak marketing skills; an indifference to technology; and, lastly, poor teamwork. Many of these weaknesses were the result of a closed economy.”
― Gurcharan Das, quote from India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution from Independence to the Global Information Age
“If you have to justify an action, you probably shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”
― Matthew Woodring Stover, quote from Caine's Law
“She is so lovely she could kill you without you even noticing it. A monster girl who knows when to kiss and when to kill.”
― Cameron Jace, quote from Snow White Sorrow
“I am tempted to incapacitate him with the hemlock and then castrate him.”
Lena paled. “I don’t think that would be very wise,” she said. “And the only knife we own is what I use for the cooking. You’re not using that.”
“I was planning on using a spoon,” Honoria replied.”
― Bec McMaster, quote from Kiss of Steel
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