Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle Quotes

“"All bright kids are depraved."”

“"...nature is motion and growth."”

“"Tropes are the dreams of speech."”

“"Life, love, libraries, have no future."”

“"Oh, come, art cannot hurt.
It can and how!"”

“"...Time is a fluid medium for the culture of metaphors."”

“"...we simply speak with our wounds; wounds procreate..."”

“"...male lust does not go very far for descriptive felicities!"”

“"But we are not 'different'! Think and dream are the same in French."”

“"...if people remembered the same they would not be different people."”

“" 'Space is a swarming in the eyes, and Time a singing in the ears...'"”

“"If my eye tells me something about Space, my ear tells me something about Time."”

“"Remembrance, embers and membranes of beauty make artists and morons lose all self-control."”

“" 'I can never get used [...] to the contrast between the opulence of nature and the squalor of human life.'"”

“Wikipedia: Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle”

“"I'm a radiant void. I'm convalescing after a long and dreadful illness...I cannot brood over broken hearts, mine is too recently mended."”

“"All he had wanted to say to Ada over the dumb dorophone amounted to three words in English, contractable to two in Russian, to one and a half in Italian..."”

“" 'I am sentimental,' she said. 'I could dissect a koala but not its baby. I like the words damozel, eglantine, elegant. I love when you kiss my elongated white hand.'"”

“"Remembrance, like Rembrandt, is dark but festive. Remembered ones dress up for the occasion and sit still. Memory is a photo-studio de luxe on an infinite Fifth Power Avenue."”

“" 'I did not mean to offend anybody by my cry of anguish.'
'Even anguish should be civil,' continued Van (while the better Van in him tugged at his sleeve, aghast and ashamed).'"”