Vladimir Nabokov

"- Might it console you to know that I expect nothing but torture from her return? That I regard you as a bird of paradise? She shook her head. - That my admiration for you is painfully strong? - I want Van – she cried – and not intangible admiration. - Intangible? You goose. You my gauge it, you may brush it once very lightly with the knuckles of you gloved hand. I said knuckles. I said once. That will do. I can't kiss you. Not even your burning face. Good-bye, pet. Tell Edmond to take a nap after he returns. I shall need him at two in the morning."

6 likes

Source: Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (1951). “Speak, memory: a memoir”

About the author

Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

Novelist

Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian-American novelist known for his intricate prose and exploration of themes like love and memory, particularly in 'Lolita'.

All quotes by Vladimir Nabokov →

Same author

More quotes by Vladimir Nabokov

See all →
Vladimir Nabokov Novelist

"Toska - noun /ˈtō-skə/ - Russian word roughly translated as sadness, melancholia, lugubriousness. "No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom."

Read quote
Vladimir Nabokov Novelist

"Mind you, sometimes the angels smoke, hiding it with their sleeves, and when the archangel comes, they throw the cigarettes away: that’s when you get shooting stars."

Read quote