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I know more than I can express in words, and the little I can express would not have been expressed, had I not known more.
Vladimir Nabokov
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the complexity of knowledge and the limitations of expression.

In this quote, Vladimir Nabokov suggests that there is a vast depth of understanding and insight that one possesses, which often transcends the ability to articulate it fully in words. He implies that the very act of expressing thoughts is rooted in a deeper, unexpressed knowledge, highlighting the limitations of language in conveying the richness of human experience.

Themes

KnowledgeExpressionLanguageUnderstandingCommunication

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the power of language in literature.

More from Vladimir Nabokov

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.
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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.
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A change of environment is the traditional fallacy upon which doomed loves, and lungs, rely.
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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.
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...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.
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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.
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A little wisdom, now and then

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