Our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Existence: A Brief Light
E
Eternal Love at Sight
E
It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Writers as Historians
W
Every great writer is a writer of history, let him treat on almost any subject he may.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Crying: Beauty’s Refuge
C
Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Against Happy Endings
A
Some people—and I am one of them—hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Curiosity Equals Insubordination
C
Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Perilous Revelations
P
Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Rain’s Innocent Fall
R
Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Simple Loathings
S
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin
Memory’s Strength in Love
M
The more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it becomes.
Vladimir Nabokov – Pnin