Quotes from Laughter in the Dark

“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

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“Our study of psychoneurotic disturbances points to a more comprehensive explanation, which includes that of Westermarck. When a wife loses her husband, or a daughter her mother, it not infrequently happens that the survivor is afflicted with tormenting scruples, called ‘obsessive reproaches’ which raises the question whether she herself has not been guilty through carelessness or neglect, of the death of the beloved person. No recalling of the care with which she nursed the invalid, or direct refutation of the asserted guilt can put an end to the torture, which is the pathological expression of mourning and which in time slowly subsides. Psychoanalytic investigation of such cases has made us acquainted with the secret mainsprings of this affliction. We have ascertained that these obsessive reproaches are in a certain sense justified and therefore are immune to refutation or objections. Not that the mourner has really been guilty of the death or that she has really been careless, as the obsessive reproach asserts; but still there was something in her, a wish of which she herself was unaware, which was not displeased with the fact that death came, and which would have brought it about sooner had it been strong enough. The reproach now reacts against this unconscious wish after the death of the beloved person. Such hostility, hidden in the unconscious behind tender love, exists in almost all cases of intensive emotional allegiance to a particular person, indeed it represents the classic case, the prototype of the ambivalence of human emotions. There is always more or less of this ambivalence in everybody’s disposition; normally it is not strong enough to give rise to the obsessive reproaches we have described. But where there is abundant predisposition for it, it manifests itself in the relation to those we love most, precisely where you would least expect it. The disposition to compulsion neurosis which we have so often taken for comparison with taboo problems, is distinguished by a particularly high degree of this original ambivalence of emotions.”
― Sigmund Freud, quote from Totem and Taboo

“She plucked a rose and held it to her face. She hated the way roses smelled, their sweetness too fragile. She wanted a garden of evergreens. A garden of stones. A garden of swords.”
― Kiersten White, quote from And I Darken

“he wondered if he was doing the right thing sticking with Brenda. But when she started walking, he followed.”
― James Dashner, quote from The Maze Runner Series

“WHY THE SEA IS SALT Once upon a time, long, long ago, there were two brothers, the one rich and the other poor. When Christmas Eve came, the poor one had not a bite in the house, either of meat or bread; so he went to his brother, and begged him, in God's name, to give him something for Christmas Day. It was by no means the first time that the brother had been forced to give something to him, and he was not better pleased at being asked now than he generally was. "If you will do what I ask you, you shall have a whole ham," said he. The poor one immediately thanked him, and promised this. "Well, here is the ham, and now you must go straight to Dead Man's Hall," said the rich brother, throwing the ham to him. "Well, I will do what I have promised," said the other, and he took the ham and set off. He went on and on for the livelong day, and at nightfall he came to a place where there was a bright light. "I have no doubt this is the place," thought the man with the ham. An old man with a long white beard was standing in the outhouse, chopping Yule logs. "Good-evening," said the man with the ham. "Good-evening to you. Where are you going at this late hour?" said the man. "I am going to Dead Man's Hall, if only I am on the right track," answered the poor man. "Oh! yes, you are right enough, for it is here," said the old man. "When you get inside they will all want to buy your ham, for they don't get much meat to eat there; but you must not sell it unless you can get the hand-mill which stands behind the door for it. When you come out again I will teach you how to stop the hand-mill, which is useful for almost everything." So the man with the ham thanked the other for his good advice, and rapped at the door. When he got in, everything happened just as the old man had said it would: all the people, great and small, came round him like ants on an ant-hill, and each tried to outbid the other for the ham. "By rights my old woman and I ought to have it for our Christmas dinner, but, since you have set your hearts upon it, I must just give it up to you," said the man. "But, if I sell it, I will have the hand-mill which is standing there behind the door." At first they would not hear of this, and haggled and bargained with the man, but he stuck to what he had said, and the people were forced to give him the hand-mill. When the man came out again into the yard, he asked the old wood-cutter how he was to stop the hand-mill, and when he had learned that, he thanked him and set off home with all the speed he could, but did not get there until after the clock had struck twelve on Christmas Eve.”
― Andrew Lang, quote from The Blue Fairy Book

“I'm coming to London next week, by the way, in unhappy circumstances. Are we getting on fine as we are? Or would you like a drink?”
― Nick Hornby, quote from Juliet, Naked

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