My only grudge against nature was that I could not turn my Lolita inside out and apply voracious lips to her young matrix, her unknown heart, her nacreous liver, the sea-grapes of her lungs, her comely twin kidneys.
Vladimir NabokovRead
...in my dreams the world would come alive, becoming so captivatingly majestic, free and ethereal, that afterwards it would be oppressive to breathe the dust of this painted life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nabokov expresses a longing for a more vibrant, beautiful world that contrasts starkly with reality.
This quote reflects the tension between dreams and reality, suggesting that while one's imagination can produce an awe-inspiring and liberating world, the return to ordinary life can feel stifling and disappointing. Nabokov captures the essence of artistic creation, highlighting how the allure of a vividly imagined world can underscore the limitations of our actual existence.
Themes
DreamsRealityImaginationBeautyOppression
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about creativity, one might use this quote to illustrate the power of imagination.
More from Vladimir Nabokov
All quotes βLolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.
Vladimir NabokovRead
A change of environment is the traditional fallacy upon which doomed loves, and lungs, rely.
Vladimir NabokovRead
But that mimosa grove-the haze of stars, the tingle, the flame, the honey-dew, and the ache remained with me, and that little girl with her seaside limbs and ardent tongue haunted me ever since-until at last, twenty-four years later, I broke her spell by incarnating her in another.
Vladimir NabokovRead
I believe the poor fierce-eyed child had figured out that with a mere fifty dollars in her purse she might somehow reach Broadway or Hollywood - or the foul kitchen of a diner (Help Wanted) in a dismal ex-prairie state, with the wind blowing, and the stars blinking, and the cars, and the bars, and the barmen, and everything soiled, torn, dead.
Vladimir NabokovRead
Adultery is a most conventional way to rise above the conventional.
Vladimir NabokovRead
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