Quotes from Transparent Things

Vladimir Nabokov ·  105 pages

Rating: (2.7K votes)


“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



About the author

Vladimir Nabokov
Born place: in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
Born date April 22, 1899
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Sometimes love and chaos are the same thing,” Mariel said softly.”
― Katharine McGee, quote from The Thousandth Floor


“I saw my mother's face again, and felt, for the first time, how the stones of the road she had walked on must have bruised her feet. I saw the moonlit road where my father's brother died. And it brought something else back to me, and carried me past it, I saw my little girl again and felt Isabel's tears again, and I felt my own tears begin to rise. And I was yet aware that this was only a moment, that the world waited outside, as hungry as a tiger, and that trouble stretched above us, longer than the sky.”
― James Baldwin, quote from Going to Meet the Man


“It was happening again: everyone wanted their story told.”
― quote from The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe


“The poor aren’t defeated, we’re domesticated.”
― Victor LaValle, quote from Big Machine


“Whenever the urge to kiss him came over me, I would kiss him. No more living life halfway. We had to go full tilt, just like the card players did. I would hit instead of stay. Always. We”
― Emma Scott, quote from Full Tilt


Interesting books

Dark Lover
(251.3K)
Dark Lover
by J.R. Ward
The Mark of Athena
(346.7K)
The Mark of Athena
by Rick Riordan
A Separate Peace
(168.1K)
A Separate Peace
by John Knowles
Eldest
(286.5K)
Eldest
by Christopher Paolini
Beautiful Creatures
(480.7K)
Beautiful Creatures
by Kami Garcia
The Gunslinger
(412.3K)
The Gunslinger
by Stephen King

About BookQuoters

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.