“I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
by the false azure in the windowpane;”

— Vladimir Nabokov, book Pale Fire

Source: Pale Fire (1962)

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Vladimir Nabokov193

Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor 1899–1977

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“I was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By the false azure in the windowpane;
I was the smudge of ashen fluff -and I
Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pale Fire

Source: Pale Fire

“To the untrue man, the whole universe is false- it is impalpable- it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself is in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a shadow, or, indeed, ceases to exist.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne book The Scarlet Letter

Source: The Scarlet Letter

“You can think of the curriculum as the shadows cast on a wall by the light of education itself as it shines over, under, around, and through the myriad phases of our experience. It is a mistake to be sure to take these shadows for the reality, but they are something that helps us find or grasp or intuit that reality. The false notions that there is a fixed curriculum, that there is a list of things that an educated person ought to know, and that the shadow-exercises on the wall themselves are the content of education—these false notions all come from taking too seriously what was originally a wise recognition—the recognition that the shadows do in fact provide a starting point in our attempt to fully envision reality.”

Andrew Abbott (1948) American sociologist and Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago.

Abott (2002) “Welcome to the University of Chicago http://www.ditext.com/abbott/abbott_aims.html Aims of Education Address. 2002

“Women, there are so many of you, you are all so similar here - well, I don’t need the princess’s shadow. I want no hope of light during the cold winter, waiting for the soul for fragments that reflect the silhouette of false beauty…”

FakTyrA (1989) Russian rapper

Source: https://m.vk.com/wall-38059496_206

“No nude, however abstract, should fail to arouse in the spectator some vestige of erotic feeling, even if it be only the faintest shadow — and if it does not do so it is bad art and false morals.”

Kenneth Clark (1903–1983) Art historian, broadcaster and museum director

Source: The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form (1951), Ch. 1: The Naked and the Nude

“Moreover, there is this completely false trial. I would participate wholeheartedly in a trial if it were to determine the guilt for 5 million murdered people and the guilt for the atrocities. But I see in this trial endless other things brought out and I have the feeling that in the shadow of the guilt of these murders the German people shall be considered guilty of everything, and in the shadow of this guilt the Americans, English, French, and especially the Russians will want to get rid of their own dirty linen.”

Hans Fritzsche (1900–1953) German Nazi official

To Leon Goldensohn, March 2, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

“I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.”

Margaret Atwood book The Handmaid's Tale

Source: The Handmaid's Tale

“And if I ever lose my hands,
Lose my power, lose my land.
Oh, if I ever lose my hands,
Ooh, I won't have to work no more.And if I ever lose my eyes,
If my colors all run dry.
Yes, if I ever lose my eyes,
Ooh, I won't have to cry no more.Yes, I'm bein' followed by a moon shadow,
Moon shadow, moon shadow.
Leapin' and hoppin' on a moon shadow,
Moon shadow, moon shadow.”

Cat Stevens (1948) British singer-songwriter

Moonshadow
Song lyrics, Teaser and the Firecat (1971)

“And so I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Actually, make that "I run through the valley of the shadow of death" - in order to get OUT of the valley of the shadow of death more quickly, you see.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Love and Death (1975)

“There is shadow under this red rock
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

T.S. Eliot book The Waste Land

Source: The Waste Land (1922), Line 25 et seq.

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