“You came into my life—not as one comes to visit (you know, not ‘taking one’s hat off’) but as one comes to a kingdom where all the rivers have been waiting for your reflection, all the roads, for your steps. Fate wanted to correct its mistake. Fate wanted to correct its mistake—as if it has asked my forgiveness for all its previous deceptions.”

— Vladimir Nabokov, “Letters to Véra,” 1923