Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both truth and art. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I discovered in nature the non utilitarian delights that I sought in art. Both were a form of magic, both were a… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“What can be sadder than a discouraged artist dying not from his own commonplace maladies, but from the cancer of oblivion?” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Although we read with our minds, the seat of artistic delight is between the shoulder blades. That little shiver behind is quite… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I do not see any essential difference between abstract and primitive art. Both are simple and sincere. Naturally, we should not generalize… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: that not all Russians love Dostoievsky as much as Americans do, and that most of… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Cannot it actually be that in a wildly literal sense, unacceptable to one's reason, he meant disappearing in his art, dissolving in… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The contemplation of beauty, whether it be a uniquely tinted sunset, a radiant face, or a work of art, makes us glance… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
A creative writer must study carefully the works of his rivals, including the Almighty. He must possess the inborn capacity not only… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I notice I may have somehow mixed up two events, my visit with Rita to Briceland on our way to Cantrip, and… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Neither in environment nor in heredity can I find the exact instrument that fashioned me, the anonymous roller that pressed upon my… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Eystein had also resorted to a weird form of trickery: among his decorations of wood or wool, gold or velvet, he would… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“All we have to do when reading Bleak House is to relax and let our spines take over. Although we read with… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Although I am capable, through long dabbling in blue magic, of imitating any prose in the world (but singularly enough not verse—I… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Chess problems demand from the composer the same virtues that characterize all worthwhile art: originality, invention, conciseness, harmony, complexity, and splendid insincerity — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“We are liable to miss the best of life if we do not know how to tingle, if we do not learn… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Beauty plus pity-that is the closest we can get to a definition of art. Where there is beauty there is pity for… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“For me a work of fiction exists only insofar as it affords me what I shall bluntly call aesthetic bliss, that is… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Neither in environment nor in heredity can I find the exact instrument that fashioned me, the a.non.y.muse roller that passed upon my… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“...under no circumstances would he [Humbert Humbert] have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
“Ami azt illeti, Vannak kezdtek nagyon tetszeni a fák is, a csodák is meg az Adák is.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
“It isn’t possible. I cannot imagine it. Come on over here, you foolish little doe, and tell me on what day I shall die.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
“Precautions to be taken in the case Of freak reincarnation: what to do On suddenly discovering that you Are now a young and vulnerable… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
“It is indeed a tricky name. It is often misspelt, because the eye tends to regard the "a" of the first syllable as a… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
“(T)here exist friendships which develop their own inner duration, their own eons of transparent time.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share
