“Like many unpaid windbags he thought that he could combine the reports he read in the papers by paid windbags into an orderly scheme, upon following which a logical and sober mind (in this case his mind) could with no effort explain and foresee a multitude of world events. The names of countries and their leading representatives became in his hands something in the nature of labels for more or less full but essentially identical vessels, whose contents he poured this way and that.”
Vladimir Nabokov, “The Gift”, 1962.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 