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
Nymphets do not occur in polar regions.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the notion that certain desires or ideals cannot thrive in every environment.
Nabokov's provocative statement suggests that the concept of 'nymphets'—young girls embodying an alluring, almost ethereal charm—is tied to specific cultural and environmental factors. By asserting that they do not exist in polar regions, he alludes to the idea that beauty and desire are often influenced by one's surroundings, and that certain qualities may be absent in harsh or uninviting climates.
Themes
NymphetsBeautyEnvironmentDesireCultural
In practice
Example use cases
In a literary analysis of Nabokov’s works, during a lecture on desire and environment.
More from Vladimir Nabokov
All quotes →Lolita, 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
...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.
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
Similar quotes
I don't care what is written," Meyer Landsman says. "I don't care what supposedly got promised to some sandal-wearing idiot whose claim to fame is that he was ready to cut his own son's throat for the sake of a hare-brained idea. I don't care about red heifers and patriarchs and locusts. A bunch of old bones in the sand. My homeland is in my hat. It's in my ex-wife's tote bag.
Michael ChabonRead
To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death.
Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyRead
Success has always been the greatest liar - and the "work" itself is a success; the great statesman, the conqueror, the discoverer is disguised by his creations, often beyond recognition; the "work," whether of the artist or the philosopher, invents the man who has created it, who is supposed to have create it; "great men," as they are venerated, are subsequent pieces of wretched minor fiction
Friedrich NietzscheRead
And if you can't shape your life the way you want, at least try as much as you can not to degrade it.
C.P. CavafyRead
Commercialism is laying its great greasy paw upon everything including the irresponsible quest of thrills; so that, whatever democracy may be theoretically, one is sometimes tempted to define it practically as standardized and commercialized melodrama.
Irving BabbittRead
In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we came from.
Alex HaleyRead