“Perhaps if the future existed, concretely and individually, as something that could be discerned by a better brain, the past would not be so seductive: its demands would be balanced by those of the future.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“This is, I believe, it: not the crude anguish of physical death but the incomparable pangs of the mysterious mental maneuver needed to pass from one state of being to another.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“Easy, you know, does it, son.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“ 'I shall vomit,' said Hugh, 'if you persist in pestering me with all that odious rot.' ”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“Mas o amor, dizia ele, era tudo menos credível, a vida real era ridícula, os labregos riam-se do amor.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“According to my almond-eyed little spy, the great surgeon, may his own liver rot, lied to me when he declared yesterday with a deathhead's grin that the operazione had been perfetta. Well, it had been so in the sense Euler called zero the perfect number. Actually, they ripped me open, cast one horrified look at my decayed fegato, and without touching it sewed me up again.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“Direct interference in a person's life does not enter our scope of activity, nor, on the other, tralatitiously speaking, hand, is his destiny a chain of predeterminate links: some "future" events may be likelier than others, O.K., but all are chimeric, and every cause-and-effect sequence is always a hit-and-miss affair, even if the lunette has actually closed around your neck, and the cretinous crowd holds its breath.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“He loved her in spite of her unlovableness. Armande had many trying, though not necessarily rare, traits, all of which he accepted as absurd clues in a clever puzzle.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“and he, Hugh Person....began to undress her in the motels of his mind”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“Eis a pessoa que eu quero. Olá, pessoa! Não me ouve.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
Vladimir Nabokov
Born place: in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
Born date April 22, 1899
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“Your mistake, indeed the mistake of your inherently finite senses, is to view the universe as an extension of yourself. You expect that, like you, it should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. but what you fail to understand is that everything you consider to be you, except for that rather silly imaginary part you call consciousness, is merely bits and pieces borrowed from the universe, and to the universe it will all return. You had no beginning, and you will have no ending. Everything that is you has always been and will always be.”
― quote from Monster
“But what of Lenore, of Lenore’s hair? Here is hair that is clearly within and of itself every color—blond and red and jet-black-blue and honeynut—but which effects an outward optical compromise with possibility that consists of appearing simply dull brown, save for brief teasing glimpses out of the corner of one’s eye.”
― David Foster Wallace, quote from The Broom of the System
“Monopoly belonged to me and Alex. It was our game and they would never understand. There were strategies and traditions and they would never get all its complexities.
I didn't want them to play it.
I strode to the Toy Department for another divider, thinking that I would never play Monopoly with anyone besides Alex, ever. Ever, ever, ever, ever.
It was possible I was behaving somewhat like a child.”
― Emmy Laybourne, quote from Sky on Fire
“To move forward, you have to accept the truth of a situation. Not persist in myth-making.”
― Val McDermid, quote from Cross and Burn
“I wonder sometimes if I'm not, after all, a piece in some other player's game, following blindly his grand designs without ever knowing that my path along the board is only a feint, while the important matters are played out elsewhere by other men.
But whether there's some grand design really matters little to me. My only hope was this: To see what might be, to believe that it should be, and then to do all I could to bring it to pass, whatever the cost. When a life spins out as joyfully as mine has done, then the price, one paid so painfully, is now recalled in gladness. I have received full value. Here among the shepherds, my cup is filled with the water of life; it overflows.”
― Orson Scott Card, quote from Treason
Laughter in the Dark
Guardian of the Gate
The Oracle of Stambo...
The Fisherman's Lady
Shakespeare's Secret
The Vicar of Wakefie...BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.
