Quotes from book
Lolita

Lolita

Lolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for Dolores. The novel was originally written in English and first published in Paris in 1955 by Olympia Press. Later it was translated into Russian by Nabokov himself and published in New York City in 1967 by Phaedra Publishers.


Vladimir Nabokov photo

“He broke my heart. You merely broke my life.”

Source: Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo

“But in my arms she was always Lolita.”

Source: Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov photo

“I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita.”

Source: I'm thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art, And this is the only immortality that you and I may share, my Lolita.

Vladimir Nabokov photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo

“And the rest is rust and stardust.”

Variant: I shall be dumped where the weed decays, And the rest is rust and stardust
Source: Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov photo

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.”

Opening lines.
Source: 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. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a murderer for fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of thorns.

Vladimir Nabokov photo

“Don't touch me; I'll die if you touch me.”

Source: Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo