Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Oh, do not scowl at me, reader, I do not intend to convey the impression that I did not manage to be… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Of all my Russian books, the defense contains and diffuses the greatest 'warmth' which may seem odd seeing how supremely abstract Chess… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
A wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine.… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“The problem lies not with the characters within the novel, but with the reader itself.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Fame in our day is too common to be confused with the enduring glow around the deserving book.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the boy or the girl in the book, but with the mind that… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“...I happen to be the kind of author who in starting to work on a book has no purpose than to get… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Curiously enough, one cannot read a book; one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, and active and creative… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“The pale organisms of literary heroes feeding under the author's supervision swell gradually with the reader's lifeblood; so that the genius of… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Usually I read several books at a time - old books, new books, fiction, nonfiction, verse, anything - and when the bedside… — 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
It was an interesting thing to do. Why did I write any of my books, after all? For the sake of the… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I will never go back. For the simple reason that all the Russia I need, after all, is with me--always with me.… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I don't belong to any club or group. I don't fish, cook, dance, endorse books, sign books, co-sign declarations, eat oysters, get… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Even while writing his book, he had become painfully aware how little he knew his own planet while attempting to piece together… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“My knowledge of Mr. Forster’s works is limited to one novel which I dislike; and anyway it was not he who fathered… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“When, on a Sunday evening in May 1876, Anna throws herself under the freight train, she has existed more than four years… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Literature under despotism: “The personality of the artist should develop freely and without restraint. One thing, however, we demand: acknowledgement of our… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Uncle alone in the house with the children said he'd dress up to amuse them. After a long wait, as he did… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“This irritated or puzzled such students of literature and their professors as were accustomed to ‘serious’ courses replete with ‘trends ’ and… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child… My hemmings and hawings over… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“. . . and in the end the logical thing would be to give up and I would give up if I… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“There are, however, at least two varieties of imagination in the reader's case. So let us see which one of the two… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“In reading, one should notice and fondle details. There is nothing wrong about the moonshine of generalization when it comes after the… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“There are gentle souls who would pronounce Lolita meaningless because it does not teach them anything. I am neither a reader nor… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“... one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I have often noticed that we are inclined to endow our friends with the stability of type that literary characters acquire in… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Whatever evolution this or that popular character has gone through between the book covers, his fate is fixed in our minds, and,… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“I will not mention the name (and what bits of it I happen to give here appear in decorous disguise) of that… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Between the ages of ten and fifteen in St. Petersburg, I must have read more fiction and poetry—English, Russian and French—than in… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“It is interesting to ponder the fact that there is no real difference between what the Western Fascists wanted of literature and… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“If you want to make a movie out of my book, have one of these faces gently melt into my own, while… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“the good reader is one who has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense–-” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child. — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
The more gifted and talkative one's characters are, the greater the chances of their resembling the author in tone or tint of… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
Between the wolf in the tall grass and the wolf in the tall story there is a shimmering go-between. That go-between, that… — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
“Zembla is a site devoted to the life and works of author, translator, and lepidopterist.” — Vladimir Nabokov Copy Share Image
A masterpiece of fiction is an original world and as such is not likely to fit the world of the reader. — 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
![“I have often noticed that we are inclined to endow our friends with the stability of type that literary characters acquire in the reader's mind. [...] Whatever evolution this or that popular character has gone through between the book covers, his fate is fixed in our minds, and, similarly, we…” quote by Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/b66/vladimir-nabokov-198_books_i-have-often-noticed-that-we-are-incline_463200.jpg)
