“There is nothing dictators hate so much as that unassailable, eternally elusive, eternally provoking gleam. One of the main reasons why the very gallant Russian poet Gumilev was put to death by Lenin's ruffians thirty odd years ago was that during the whole ordeal, in the prosecutor's dim office, in the torture house, in the winding corridors that led to the truck, in the truck that took him to the place of execution, and at that place itself, full of the shuffling feet of the clumsy and gloomy shooting squad, the poet kept smiling.”
Vladimir Nabokov
Lectures on Literature
-
Working on it...
-
Working on it...
-
Working on it...
-
Working on it...
Similar quotes
“Action and personal happiness have no truck with each other; they are eternally at war.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Night Flight
“A poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child.”
H. L. Mencken
“The reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself; it gives life to others as it transforms.”
Lao Tzu
“Then again, it was Jace. He'd pick a fight with a Mack truck if the urge took him.”
Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes
“Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you. So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Believe me. You’ll be happier.”
David J. Pollay
The Law of the Garbage Truck: How to Respond to People Who Dump on You, and How to Stop Dumping on Others