Vladimir Nabokov ∇ Speaking to James Mossman—Montreux, 9/8/69

What distinguishes us from animals ? « Being aware of being aware of being. In other words, if I not only know that I am, but also know that I know it, then I belong to the human species. All the rest follows—the glory of thought, poetry, a vision of the universe. In that respect, the gap between ape and man is immeasurably greater than the one between amoeba and ape. The difference between an ape’s memory and a human memory is the difference between an ampersand and the British Museum Library. » Also,