CitationMisquotesContextSource ISBNCitation “Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.” ~Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-American author “Commentary” (1962) Pale Fire, New York, NY: G.P.Putnam’s Sons, p. 272 Misquotes Re-quote note: Although Nabokov didn't include commas in his original line, it is often paraphrased with additional punctuation: “Existence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.” Context Extended excerpt [Fiction. Punctuation is original to cited source.]: “If I correctly understand the sense of this succinct observation, our poet suggests here that human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.” (p. 272)   Source ISBN   Source: Library -