My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Simple Loathings
S
Memory’s Strength in Love
M
The more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it becomes.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Moderation in Sobriety
M
There is nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Complacency Shattered
C
Complacency is a state of mind that exists only in retrospective: it has to be shattered before being ascertained.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Dancing Towards Love
D
To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Knowledge: An Island
K
Our knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of nonknowledge.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Imagination’s Memory Link
I
Imagination is a form of memory.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Time: The Perfect Author
T
Time is the best author. It always writes the perfect ending.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Pain’s Invisible Whip
P
Pain is a puzzling master; one feels the caress, but nobody sees the whip.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Supervising Work Ethic
S
I can’t sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do.
Jerome K Jerome – Three Men in a Boat