“The sun is a thief: she lures the sea
and robs it. The moon is a thief:
he steals his silvery light from the sun.
The sea is a thief: it dissolves the moon.”
Source: Pale Fire
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Vladimir Nabokov193
Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor 1899–1977Related quotes
“The thief left it behind:
the moon
at my window.”
Ryōkan (1758–1831) Japanese Buddhist monk
Written after a thief robbed his hut, as translated in The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry (1993) by Stephen Mitchell, p. 162
“Once a thief, always a thief, only now I steal from the enemy.”
Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)
Context: Until two days ago,' she went on suddenly, 'I thought that my life depended on other people. On employers. Now I think it depends on me. You taught me that. But I still need money.'
'Money's easy,' said Sharpe dismissively.
'That is not the conventional wisdom,' Sarah said drily.
'Steal the stuff,' Sharpe said.
'You were really a thief?'
'Still am. Once a thief, always a thief, only now I steal from the enemy. And some day I'll have enough to stop me from doing it and then I'll have to stop others from thieving from me.'
'You have a simple view of life.'
'You're born, you survive, you die,' Sharpe said. 'What's hard about that?
Frances Hardinge (1973) British children's writer
Source: A Face Like Glass
“4788. The Thief is sorry he is to be hanged, but not that he is a Thief.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“Even the best thief in the world can't steal time.”
Ally Carter book Heist Society
Source: Heist Society
“Set a thief to catch a thief.”
Callimachus (-310–-240 BC) ancient poet and librarian
Epigram 43; translation by Robert Allason Furness, from Poems of Callimachus (1931), p. 103
Epigrams
“4106. Set a Thief to catch a Thief.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“Even if he was a thief, he was my thief. I could not push him away anymore.”
Janet Lee Carey (1954) American children's writer
Source: Dragonswood