Vladimir Nabokov Quotes
Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their teacher nor they know.
Quotes to Explore
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I have a romantic conception of the writer's life, and the sort of writer's life that I admire is probably a childless life, possibly a marriageless life, certainly a travelling life - I'm in awe of how much D.H. Lawrence managed to get around. But that's never been something I'm capable of doing.
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For many years, even as users became more sophisticated, personal computers took too much effort to use without problem-solving, keeping alive the yearning for greater simplicity. Microsoft's dominant Windows platform, in particular, was a home for all manner of bugs and problems that required IT people to straighten out.
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Born with blue spectacles, you would think the world was blue and never be conscious of the existence of the distorting glass.
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The idea of going on tour for the rest of my life with old works is not that exciting. As an artist I definitely think the work in future is going to be better than the work in the past, otherwise why do it?
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I don't live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free.
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I'm going to be acting all my life. But, while doing that, I will try to avoid the trappings of fame.
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I went to my mum at about seven or eight and said I want to start acting, but the week before, I had said I wanted to do ballet. She said if I took acting classes for a full year, she would look further into it, and that's how it started.
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Different directors offer you different things, and it's not necessarily the most obvious things.
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At its core, banking is not simply about profit, but about personal relationships.
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Government does not create jobs, but it can help set the table for economic growth with the right policies.
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Laws and customs may be creative of vice; and should be therefore perpetually under process of observation and correction: but laws and customs cannot be creative of virtue: they may encourage and help to preserve it; but they cannot originate it.
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Dismissals of poetry are nothing new. It's easy to dismiss poetry if one has not read much of it.
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Like all of Latin America, Mexico after independence in 1821 turned its back on a triple heritage: on the Spanish heritage, because we were newly liberated colonies, and on our Indian and black heritages, because we considered them backward and barbaric. We looked towards France, England and the U.S., to become progressive democratic republics.
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I've been on stage since I was 7. That's where I'd rather be than anywhere else. Just because you can do a bunch of things doesn't mean you are a bunch of things. I can act. I can sing. But I am a dancer.
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I'm the easiest person to make fun of.
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We'd all like to believe that perhaps people could stop killing each other.
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I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful.
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I've always believed that it's important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure.
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I was in one bar band from 1965 to '69, then I was in another one from 1970 to '79 - a 9-year bar band!
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A mentor, a 'teacher,' is like an editor. I absolutely value my editor, who is my teacher.
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I'm into rock'n'roll because rock'n'roll, to me, means freedom.
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How men envy and often hate these warm clocks, these wives, who know they will live forever. So what do we do? We men turn terribly mean, because we can't hold to the world or ourselves or anything. We are blind to continuity, all breaks down, falls, melts, stops, rots, or runs away. So, since we cannot shape Time, where does that leave men? Sleepless. Staring.
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Discussion in class, which means letting twenty young blockheads and two cocky neurotics discuss something that neither their teacher nor they know.
