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To know that no one before you has seen an organ you are examining, to trace relationships that have occurred to no one before, to immerse yourself in the wondrous crystalline world of the microscope, where silence reigns, circumscribed by its own horizon, a blindingly white arena - all this is so enticing that I cannot describe it.

Vladimir Nabokov#3

NatureDiscoveryObservationResearchScienceSilenceWonder

About this quote

What does it mean?
Discovering unknown details under a microscope offers a uniquely captivating and immersive experience that defies description.
In plain terms
Exploring unseen scientific details is so thrilling it is hard to put into words.
What can you take from it?
Scientific discovery offers a unique and thrilling immersion into the unknown.

Where it applies

  • scientific research
  • personal discovery
  • study of nature

Putting it to work

  • conducting microscopy
  • scientific writing
  • nature study

Questions to consider

  • What unseen world surrounds you right now?
  • How does silence enhance your focus?

Another view

It idealizes solitary scientific work and ignores collaborative or mundane aspects of research.

More from Vladimir Nabokov

  1. Dark pictures, thrones, the stones that pilgrims kiss Poems that take a thousand years to die But ape the immortality of this Red label on a little butterfly.

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  2. I hastened to quench a thirst that had been burning a hole in the mixed metaphor of my life ever since I had fondled a quite different Dolly thirteen years ear…

    Permalink to quote #4
  3. What is this jest in majesty? This ass in passion? How do God and Devil combine to form a live dog?

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