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/lit/ - Literature

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3779057 No.3779057 [Reply] [Original]

"I am sufficiently proud of my knowing something to be modest about my not knowing all"

This is a quote from Lolita. I cannot, for the life of me understand it. What is he saying here?

>> No.3779062

you know something quite well so you feel content even though you don't know everything

>> No.3779064

>>3779057
fuck you, I know some things. so what if I don't know it all?

>> No.3779068

>>3779062
>>3779064
Oh! I see. Thank you. The way in ran on befuddled me.

>> No.3779117

>>3779062
He views too highly of himself for the knowledge he has to treat himself in the typical self rightenous manner of acknowledging how little one knows (like socratic ignorance)

>> No.3779189

>>3779057
It's a broken turn of phrase that should have been edited. (Or even edited out.)

> modest about not knowing all

Does that mean 'shame for not knowing all', or 'content in not knowing all'? Maybe even 'realistically weigh the possibility that one can know all'?

Modest, adj.: "moderate in the estimation of one's abilities".

"Moderate in the estimation of my abilities in not knowing all".

Wut?